WEEKEND Q+A #11: MINITURTLE

[jamonwindeyer]

This thread will open when the Q+A starts!

WEEKEND Q+A #11: MINITURTLE
FRIDAY 24TH: 5PM - 8PM

A LITTLE ABOUT MINITURTLE

Hi!
As the name miniturtle may have suggested,  I am near-obsessed by turtles - which is what first drew me to science and conservation. In VCE I studied psychology,  biology,  chemistry,  physics, and  methods.  I also studied units 1&2 of literature and outdoor ed,  but literature wasn’t for me so I studied units 3&4 english language by distance education instead.

Over the years I was able to participate in a range of leadership experiences,  starting in grade 5 with  conservation of local grasslands and continuing through year 12 as vice school captain,  youth mayor (of the local youth advisory committee), and (for a time) chairman of the local venturer scout unit. 

These dual interests led me to where I am now,  studying the Bachelor of Science Advanced - Global Challenges  (Honours), (forgive the pretentious name) at Monash University. As part of my course I'm running a STEM camp for year 8 students,  so if anyone can think of what engaged them in science (that I could maybe incorporate) that would be great!

Aside from that, I’m on the Monash Advanced Science Society Committee and am an Access Monash Mentor - so if you if you have questions about clubs & societies,  support available for disadvantaged students at Monash, what mentoring is like, or even  how to make the best of catching  vline trains everyday… I'll do my best

Final words: at the highschool I went to,  the dux hasn't had a 90+ ATAR for the past few years,  but we had 3 95+s in my cohort.
In year 9 I was told by a teacher (with reason due to my motivation struggles) that I wouldn't cope with VCE. Yet I duxed all of my subjects, starting with the one they taught (we have a fantastic working relationship now).
Your history doesn't define you.  Your school’s history doesn’t define you.  You,  present you and future you working together,  are the only one who can do that.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

1. If you haven't already, register for an ATAR Notes account by clicking here!
2. Scroll down to the Quick Reply window at the bottom of this page
3. Type your reply and click Post!

[Bri MT]

This q&a is now open!

[beatroot]

Favourite part about studying at Monash University?

[Maya24]

What attracted you to Monash?

[envisagator]

Heii ya, a few questions

1. Do you have any pets - turtles, no - why??
2. What do you most like about mentoring
3. How did you get your name??

[Bri MT]

Favourite part about studying at Monash University?

The people. In particular the people in my cohort are absolutely amazing. They're incredible, and I'm so grateful for their insights, dedication to helping their communities, and generosity as friends.

[sweetiepi]

1) What's your favourite uni unit you've taken at uni so far? Why is that so?
2) Would you rather Metro or V/Line?

[Bri MT]

What attracted you to Monash?

Monash wasn't really a consideration for me until at one point I saw an article on the Conversation about some research being conducted there. I decided to go to Open Day and when I was there, I was pleasantly surprised by the campus and learnt about the courses there, including the advanced science courses. I talked to the academics and student there and the vibe felt right?
I was also very interested in the idea of living on campus, and that seemed fairly realistic at Monash, and less so at other places.

I did more research on the courses and became quite invested in doing one of the advanced science courses - I almost picked research instead of GC, but in the end I'm very happy with the decision I made.

Hope this helps

[Bri MT]

Heii ya, a few questions

1. Do you have any pets - turtles, no - why??
2. What do you most like about mentoring
3. How did you get your name??

1. No, not anymore. When I was younger we lived with my nanna who had 2 cats and a dog, but know I don't have any. I almost got a turtle for my 13th birthday, but in the end I decided that given how often I go camping and how long I can sometimes be doing that for, I wouldn't be able to care for the turtle as well as it would deserve.
2. Seeing my mentees grow and develop. When they start to make progress in what they're doing and become highly motivated and engaged - even sometimes to the point where they don't really need a mentor - that's great.
3. As in how I picked my username?
For a long time I was very very short, (as a scout one of the other scouts was taller than me when they were kneeling and I was standing!) which is where mini comes from. I figure that the turtle part is probably pretty self explanatory.

[Google123]

Incredible ATAR miniturtle!
Congratulations!!

On that basis, how did you study for exams? How many practice exams per subject?
How many hours did you study for starting from this time of the year?
(yes quality > quantity, but just asking

Also, what's your current project in the Global Challenges part of your degree?

Thank you!

[Bri MT]

1) What's your favourite uni unit you've taken at uni so far? Why is that so?
2) Would you rather Metro or V/Line?

1) Hmmmm… Out of my standard science units, probably environmental biology. So far most of the lecture content isn't new, but the labs are great and it's incredible to think that I'm finally studying environmental science at a university level.      Otherwise, SCI1502 (the GC specific unit for this semester) seems pretty promising so far. We're learning about impacting policy using science at the moment, which is something I can see being very useful for my future career/s.

2) Being on metro rather than vline for semester 2 has been fantastic. I love being able to just walk to the station without checking a timetable, worrying that I'll get to southern cross too late, or having as significant difficulties with replacement services. The actual "being on a train" experience is better with vline, but it's a small price to pay

[appleandbee]

1) What areas of Science do you think you will specialise in (I know it's still early days, no pressure)?
2) What careers/future pathways are you interested in?

[Bri MT]

Incredible ATAR miniturtle!
Congratulations!!

On that basis, how did you study for exams? How many practice exams per subject?
How many hours did you study for starting from this time of the year?
(yes quality > quantity, but just asking

Also, what's your current project in the Global Challenges part of your degree?

Thank you!

Thank you!


Practice exam questions were my main form of study, with teaching other people (irl and online) and using online flashcards also playing a significant role. The amount of practice exams varied per subject, for biology I did around 30(?) but for my other subjects it was less, eg. for physics I only did 3 practice exams but I did more "area of study" practice questions.


I have no idea how many hours I spent studying, as I didn't use study schedules or anything like that. I did barely any study on the weekends, but I usually stayed back at school until 4:30/5 and also woke up around 6:30/7. In the lead up to exams I basically studied all day (on weekdays) unless it was the day before an exam, in which case the focus was on my mental state, nutrition, hydration, exercise and sleep.

I also had a bad habit of pushing to hard on the holidays (5:30 wakeup, 10:00 sleep, productive the whole time) and then burning out before semester - I do not recommend this approach.



For my leadership quest (1st year project) I identified the SES gaps in STEM as a social issue I wanted to address and my intervention for this is a STEM camp targeted at students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to help engage them in STEM.

For my interview and supplementary form in my application last year, the plan was to have a device that would attach to watches/smartwatches and monitor the person's galvanic skin response to see if they were dehydrated and send them alerts to remind them to drink water. There were a wide range in the types of projects people used in the interviews and forms, so I'd encourage anyone thinking of applying not to be afraid of being creative


No problem at all!

[Bri MT]

1) What areas of Science do you think you will specialise in (I know it's still early days, no pressure)?
2) What careers/future pathways are you interested in?

1) I plan on majoring in conservation biology and ecology (in my course progression plan I'm 1 unit away from an extended major), with a minor in chemistry
2) I've always wanted to be a marine biologist. Towards the end of highschool the "it's hard to get a marine bio job" and "you're smart, want to help the comunity and like biology - why aren't you planning on being a doctor??" talk got to me a bit and I considered a med pathway but my passion is for marine biology.

Ideally, I'd want to be in a role with significant scope for science education/communication and fieldwork. Although I love sea turtles I would also be very happy studying other forms of marine life, and I find interactions more compelling than indivual units; that's both in terms of interactions between different areas/fields of the scientific community and interactions between species/processes.


Thank you for your question

[PhoenixxFire]

Do you have a favourite species of turtle? (Why?)

What’s been the most unexpected difference between high school and uni?