Uni Stuff > The University Journey Journal
My Uni Journey
Seamus Wong:
Feeling pretty good at the moment.
I said last week that I was probably going to fall behind with my uni work - and I did.
This past week kind of taught me that I needed to bring back some structure and planning into my life.
I had entered this year with the mindset of not taking uni too seriously - well at least not as seriously as year 12. I obviously wanted to do well, but I didn't really want to put in too much effort - which is a dumb idea and looking back, I shouldn't have underestimated the difficulty of uni.
So when uni started, I didn't create any homework/study plan, nor did I write down any sort of list of the tasks I needed to complete each day. This lead to lots of clutter in my mind, and me forgetting to do certain tasks, and overall me just being stressed out because I knew I needed to get shit done, but I didn't know exactly what shit actually needed to be done - if that makes sense....
Anyway, I have learnt that structure is necessary, and I've felt a lot less stressed an anxious because I now know what needs to be done and by when.
My computer science units are getting really interesting. We are learning about the internal structure of processors and how instructions are executed and how data is transferred within a system. It's kind of like studying human anatomy, but instead of studying the human body, we're studying a computers.
The maths we are doing is pretty fun - boolean algebra. The last lecture was on mathematical induction which I knew from doing algo in year 12.
The computer science subjects are very time consuming. The lecturer for the maths unit is really really good, but the computer systems unit lecturer doesn't fully explain things - leaving me constantly searching up questions on Google and Youtube to try and figure out and understand the basic ideas that the lecture has failed to effectively communicate to us. Pretty frustrating, but not too bad because the content is interesting.
My economics and accounting units for commerce are pretty boring tbh. They aren't difficult and they aren't that interesting - mainly because so far the concepts are the same as what's covered in year 12 eco and accounting.
I can't wait to learn about stuff that I haven't learnt about before.
My eating is getting kinda better - still pretty bad. My workouts are getting better though which is good.
I can pump out 70 pushups in a row which is awesome.
I haven't put any energy into my side-projects though which makes me feel really terrible. I will get back onto them once I have gotten ahead with uni work.
I did feel a little depressed over the past 3 weeks because of the whole change in my routine and the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus and uni. It has taught me how important it is to be adaptable to change. Now I feel so much better and it makes me never want to fall back into the habits that I did fall into over that 3 week period - waking up late, going to bed late, eating junk, not planning my days, not saying no to distractions, etc. - because it genuinely is the worst feeling.
If I were to rate the current state of my life right now, it would be a 7/10. At the end of the week I hope to be ahead with my uni work and back onto my programming and investing projects. If I can effectively manage uni and my projects (and my health as well of course) then I could give myself a 10/10.
Seamus Wong:
Okay so I feel like that 1 week mid-semester break was definitely needed - and was pretty well spent.
I got on top of work that I'd fallen behind on.
I also got ahead on this weeks content.
I have a new study schedule/routine/plan thing that I have been following and it is so good.
So instead of planning my day, I plan my week in advance.
Each day of the week, I allocate a particular type of task.
For example, one day, I will attempt to just get through all lectures and any readings and write down notes. I won't do any questions on this day.
Then the next day, I'll spend the entire day just doing questions for each of my subjects.
If I don't get through all questions, then I'll do the same thing the next day.
Then I have a day purely for my personal projects - so I can program, research and read whatever I want.
If some groups of tasks take longer, then I allocate another day to them.
So far it is really good and I've found my productivity has increased significantly.
My exercising has been great - my back is also straightening up really well due to the stretches and back exercises that I've been doing. I am also incorporating cardio into my workouts which I am enjoying more than I thought I would have.
Due to quarantine, I've been ensuring I go outside atleast once every two days - today I went and rode my bike for an hour which felt great.
I got a cool programming project I am working on which is also exciting.
Other than that, things have been good. I hope I can stay on top of my work and I can stick to my routine and maintain this productivity.
brothanathan:
--- Quote from: Seamus Wong on April 21, 2020, 09:01:50 pm ---Okay so I feel like that 1 week mid-semester break was definitely needed - and was pretty well spent.
I got on top of work that I'd fallen behind on.
I also got ahead on this weeks content.
I have a new study schedule/routine/plan thing that I have been following and it is so good.
So instead of planning my day, I plan my week in advance.
Each day of the week, I allocate a particular type of task.
For example, one day, I will attempt to just get through all lectures and any readings and write down notes. I won't do any questions on this day.
Then the next day, I'll spend the entire day just doing questions for each of my subjects.
If I don't get through all questions, then I'll do the same thing the next day.
Then I have a day purely for my personal projects - so I can program, research and read whatever I want.
If some groups of tasks take longer, then I allocate another day to them.
So far it is really good and I've found my productivity has increased significantly.
--- End quote ---
Ever tried incorporating a spaced repetition routine? Let's say you finished a topic on the 22nd, review it on the 25th, review it again on the 2nd of April, then a month later on the 2nd of May. If you've tried something like this before, how effective did you find it?
Seamus Wong:
--- Quote from: brothanathan on April 21, 2020, 09:32:42 pm ---Ever tried incorporating a spaced repetition routine? Let's say you finished a topic on the 22nd, review it on the 25th, review it again on the 2nd of April, then a month later on the 2nd of May. If you've tried something like this before, how effective did you find it?
--- End quote ---
No I haven't actually. I kind of just learn stuff, make sure I understand it, do some questions, and then not really look at it again until a test or exam comes up. I guess it probably would be good to incorporate a spaced repetition routine. It really would depend on the subject and the complexity of the content.
Greater complexity = Increased need to review more regularly to ensure it stays understood
Less complexity = Understand it once and just briefly review it when studying to refresh your memory
Seamus Wong:
Update
Sleep Schedule
I sleep throughout the day, and study all night. It is working pretty well so far.
It's good because now I've removed the biggest source of distraction - the people at home - which allows me to do my work uninterrupted.
Uni
Uni work has been good. Things are getting a bit more difficult which is good since it is forcing me to actually focus. Before I didn't really put in too much effort in my commerce subjects because I knew the content from year 12. Now we are learning new shit so I have to put in effort.
FIT1047 assignment is stressing me out. I know I'll get it done - I just don't know when.
Mental Health
Been in a really bad head-space over the past week and it has affected my studies, my projects, my sleep schedule (hence why I'm up right now at 2AM) and my exercise/diet. It honestly never occurred to me that I'd suffer from anxiety/depression because things have been relatively chill my whole life - but recently shit hasn't been going so well and little things pile up on top of each other and create a huge grey cloud of burden that I feel is weighing me down more and more each day.
Random shit
Got back into working out today after not exercising for 3 days, and have started eating healthier again.
Coffee has been keeping me alive - I'm not addicted, I just drink one at 10:00pm to fuel me into the night and through till the early morning.
I think this 'depression' has peaked and I am starting to feel better.
also, can coronavirus fuck off. I wanna go to uni
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