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Broc N’ Roll – kauac’s uni journal

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kauac:
My results for this semester came out a few days ago! I think USYD was one of the first uni's I know of to release results, which is weird, considering semester 2 goes back so much later.

Bio: 81 DI - a bit disappointed, because it was really just one assignment that I didn't do very well in that made the difference between a HD and DI.
Speech Science: 86 HD - pretty shocked in a good way! I found this subject fairly challenging all semester - but I'm glad my efforts paid off!
Linguistics and Phonetics: 88 HD - pretty much what I was expecting, so I'm happy with that.
Chem: still waiting for results - have to finish my holiday pracs first.

Although I was a little disappointed about bio, I'm stoked to have 2 HD's and a DI so far! Just have 2 more pracs to go, and then I have officially completed my first semester of uni!

My break has been busy! I've been working 30-35 hours each week, and then have been exercising and catching up with various friends in-between. I'm taking a bit of time off work at the end of July for various conferences, so hopefully that will be a bit more relaxing!

kauac:
A rainy Sunday afternoon, and the gym's not open  :'( ...So thought I'd pop in here.... So my Chem results came out early (meant to be officially released tomorrow, but was sent an email on Friday)!

Over the moon ecstatic to get an 85 (HD)! I was expecting a low credit, so I was actually laughing at how I managed to pull this one off! All I must say is that they must have been very kind when marking/scaling the final exam.  :)

Had an awesome week off work! Super recharging and gave me a chance to reflect / look forward on life and plans and such. Work's settled down now, so I've got a more manageable amount of hours.

I signed up and started the second round of Questagame, which will be fun! I've only taken a few photos of birds at the moment, so I probably should be a little more intentional about it - since it is a competition, after all!

I've had a bit of a look at what my timetable looks like for this semester. In terms of face-face, I'll have 3 hours of tutes each week - mostly likely a Wednesday morning, and then 2 chem pracs in the semester. So still mostly online at this stage. Honestly, I feel like this semester will be a bit dry will all the data science and maths I'm doing, but I've just got to get through before I can get to bigger and better things. Still a few more weeks before I head back. Hoping to sneak a little trip away before uni/potential lockdown sets in.  :)

angewina_naguen:
Congratulations on your amazing results  ;D They're super impressive and very well-deserving!

Also great to see that you're thinking positively about the online learning experience as much as possible. What are your thoughts on how USYD's handled the pandemic, for next semester as well as overall?

kauac:
Hi! It's been a mighty while!
(So long that I had forgotten my AN password, oops!)

So this semester's been happening... Now at the end of week 8 of 12. I've been enjoying going into campus once a week for some F2F tutorials. Always lots of protests when I go though, = lots of police, so it's a bit strange.

I also had 2 lab skills sessions for chem... I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to pracs though, so I found them pretty scary and intense. Thankfully it was just a P/F mark for this though, so it ended up being fine.

I don't think I've recorded what subjects I am doing yet, so here they are and how I'm finding them:

- BIOL1007: From Molecules to Ecosystems - fairly interesting and not too hard - liked the genetics and biochem sections, not so much the plant science
- CHEM1112: CHEM 1B - has been okay. Did a lot of organic chem and analysing spectrums (a little tedious), but not too bad.
- DATA1001: Foundations of Data Science - starting off liking this a lot: learning about experimental design and how to code using R, but now I find the lectures a bit dull (using R is still cool though :) ).
- MATH1013: Linear Algreba - Enjoying this quite a lot! A bit different to the kind of maths I did in highschool, but it's a very methodical process using matrixes to solve things, and the lecturers are really helpful (and provide pretty lecture notes!).
- MATH1014: Mathematical Modelling. Building on highschool 2U, but somehow I'm struggling with this one a lot more!? I feel like the lectures make sense, but when I get to tutorials, I have no idea what I'm doing! Probably need more practice.

Very ready for this semester to be over! My friends from other uni's are all wrapping up their classes and starting exams, whereas USYD still has 5 weeks before exams to go! Have felt very time poor this semester since I'm doing 5 subjects (even though it's the same amount of credit points). Mainly because I have to spend more time on maths since it's not my strong suit - probably more time than my 6cp subjects, oops.

Being on campus has been great, though! I had free pancakes yesterday, which was a nice surpise! Been good to have some social interaction in classes (even though I'm less productive), rather than just focusing on the work, when classes are online.

Participated in a research interview in the mid-semester break for chemistry. They were testing how VR technology could assist in visualising substitution reactions, so that was cool! I feel like you aren't officially a uni student until you participate in some sort of research for uni.

I started playing a mixed indoor netball competition with my brother and sister, which has been exciting - and something to look forward to each week! Work has been alright - doing a manageable amount of shifts (around 15-20 hours), and have been training a lot of newer workers. Going to have full rest day on Saturday - no uni work or working, which is exciting! Probably going to go shopping!


--- Quote from: angewina_naguen on August 09, 2020, 05:34:53 pm ---What are your thoughts on how USYD's handled the pandemic, for next semester as well as overall?

--- End quote ---

I think USYD have managed things pretty well. It's been good that they have offered some things F2F whilst being flexible for students where this isn't possible for them. They also have given plenty of extra resources for online learning, which is terrific!

Not sure why they gave us such a long break in between semesters, but hope it was helpful for them!

kauac:
Another semester down, only 8 more to go!  ;D

Exams flew by - most of them of were quite difficult, but it's satisfying to have finished them now. Marks are supposed to come out sometime in January, but my marks for BIOL1007 came out early, which was cool. I ended up with an 88 (HD), which I'm really happy with. It'll probably be my highest mark for the semester, since I did find my maths subjects quite challenging. Just hoping I passed these (but if not, my back-up is repeating them as January intensives).

Feeling a bit more confident with my lab skills after having a chill microbiology skills session one week. Quite familiar with pipetting now, and had a go at using the spectrophotometer and various microscopes, which will be helpful for next year and beyond.

When I went to campus for the last week of semester, I was getting a little sad that I wouldn't be back there again until March. That's not normally like me to get emotional haha, but going to campus has been a highlight of this half of the year! We had a little party in our chemistry tute that week to celebrate end of semester, which was pretty cute! Turns out it was our tutor's last tutorial, since they were graduating, so a nice way for them to finish too.

It seems uni next year will probably be pretty similar to this semester in terms of online / F2F learning. Going in for 1 day a week was certainly sustainable, but I do wonder how I'll go with all the travel when we eventually go back to full-time F2F. But that's a problem for future Katie! I am looking forward to my subjects next semester, since content becomes more specific - doing a bit of biochem, physiology, a speech/hearing unit and some OLE's (Open Learning Environment). Not too sure what OLE's I will pick yet, but there are some cool health-related ones. I was even thinking of doing a music notation one, since I play the piano and can read music, hopefully it shouldn't be too hard!

Uni break for me looks like some part-time work, getting around to those things that I put off during semester and resting in-between. Hoping to get away for a bit in January, (covid-willing), but if not, I'll find ways to enjoy some relaxation at home. Already started building some lego, cooking a bit, and thinking about getting back into learning Dutch (now that I have the brainspace). Should be a great next few months!

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