Uni Stuff > The University Journey Journal
My Uni Journey
Seamus Wong:
SEMESTER 2: FIRST DAY
Semester 2 of uni has officially started today.
My fit1008 (intro to compsci) workshop today was really fun. The lecturer and tutors were very engaging and made the already interesting content even more interesting.
We did some problem solving exercises in python - optimising a program to run more efficiently, and then played around on the forums to get used to how it all worked. I am definitely excited for the rest of the semester. Though I must admit, it is going to be quite difficult so I need to ensure I stay on top of everything.
I also did some of my ETC (Economics and Business Statistics) work today. The lecture videos just went over basics of plotting data and adjusting the presentation of plots on excel. We also covered normalisation of data, and adjusting data to be expressed in 'real' terms so as to remove the effects of external factors on the change in the data over a time series - e.g. taking into account inflation when considering the growth in profits of a company over an extended period of time.
We discussed pivot tables as well, and we looked at how data in these tables could be related - through calculating conditional probabilities and independence of events. It was all interesting stuff. It obviously got a bit boring after a while because I was staring at excel sheets for hours, but I like the idea of it all and I know that as the unit progresses, we'll learn more complex and more interesting stuff.
This unit is kinda like an introduction to Econometrics I think. I really like it, and I looked through the material and realised that I was using some of what was taught in the unit, in my own personal projects that I did at the start of the year and during these past holidays.
It kinda makes me think that I should choose Econometrics as my Commerce Major.... I don't know though, I really want to do finance. I guess I'll have to do some more research and make up my mind soon.
I didn't touch any Maths or Marketing work today. Both of those units seem pretty interesting so I'm excited to start on them. I assume Marketing will be really easy, which is good because it'll mean I will have more time to devote to FIT1008 which is likely to be the hardest unit this semester for me.
This semester will be a lot harder than last semester I think because last semester I really didn't have to do much work for Accounting and Economics because most of the content was similar to year 12.
I know I'll be more focused this semester though so I hopefully should be able to do better despite the increase in difficulty. I managed to average a HD (80%) across my units last semester but I really want to see it go into the high 90s by the end of my degree - I know it's possible.
Anyway, I gotta workout now (Back, Shoulders, Triceps), then eat something, then plan my day for tomorrow, clean my room, read and sleep.
Adios
whys:
--- Quote from: Seamus Wong on August 03, 2020, 08:54:48 pm ---This semester will be a lot harder than last semester I think because last semester I really didn't have to do much work for Accounting and Economics because most of the content was similar to year 12.
I know I'll be more focused this semester though so I hopefully should be able to do better despite the increase in difficulty. I managed to average a HD (80%) across my units last semester but I really want to see it go into the high 90s by the end of my degree - I know it's possible.
Anyway, I gotta workout now (Back, Shoulders, Triceps), then eat something, then plan my day for tomorrow, clean my room, read and sleep.
--- End quote ---
Good luck for semester 2! Also, I don't know much about uni scoring but a high distinction sounds amazing, keep up the awesome work! How much overlap did you find your degree had with accounting and economics? I've always wondered the extent to which different degrees have overlapping content because I have this preconceived perception that the content learnt in uni is 10x harder than high school (not sure if it's true though). And have fun working out (or if you've already done it, then I hope it was fun) and have a great night.
Seamus Wong:
--- Quote from: whys on August 03, 2020, 11:15:32 pm ---Good luck for semester 2! Also, I don't know much about uni scoring but a high distinction sounds amazing, keep up the awesome work! How much overlap did you find your degree had with accounting and economics? I've always wondered the extent to which different degrees have overlapping content because I have this preconceived perception that the content learnt in uni is 10x harder than high school (not sure if it's true though). And have fun working out (or if you've already done it, then I hope it was fun) and have a great night.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for your kind words :) Workout was pre good, was super tired tho. I think it's probably best I start exercising earlier cos at the end of the day I am so dead.
In relation to Economics and Accounting, there was only overlap for the start of the course (first half of the semester). But the thing is, if you already have a background in a subject, the new content that's taught is easier to grasp. For example, there was new and a little bit more complex stuff in Accounting in the second half of the semester, but I didn't struggle in understanding the concepts since I already had built a solid base of understanding in VCE. The same applied to Economics.
I can't comment on other units though.
The content definitely is 'harder'. In general, the it increases in difficulty to an extent, but this is exaggerated further by the fact that the rate at which the content is delivered is much faster than in VCE. Looking back, VCE was definitely a lot easier to keep up with - though I didn't do subjects that were as difficult as most people here - e.g. Spesh, Chem, Physics, etc., so my year 12 experience was probably not as difficult as others'.
Seamus Wong:
WEEK 2
Uni has been going awesome so far. I am actually really really enjoying being in the same sort of mindset as I was in year 12 where I was just really focused on doing well. It feels great.
Introduction to Computer Science
Introduction to Computer Science is by far the most enjoyable unit. It currently has a pretty big workload - the largest out of all my other units.
I have one 1 hour workshop for it every monday, a 2 hour tute every Tuesday, and a 3 hour lab every Thursday.
I really like how there are lots of classes - for two reasons:
1. We get the opportunity to socialise a lot, both with other students and with the tutors who are really fun.
2. We really get to solidify the concepts taught in the lectures through doing lots of questions and lots of discussion.
I am praying that the rest of my computer science units will be as fun and interesting as this unit has been so far.
Currently we're learning about an assembly language, MIPS, which is the language that gets directly translated into machine code (zeros and ones) that get executed by the CPU.
I am finding it pretty intuitive so far.
One thing that I promised myself I'd do this semester is to always ask questions, even if they sound dumb.
Sometimes in the middle of writing up my question, I figure out the solution - probably because when I am writing it out, I am logically laying out all my ideas (as opposed to them being cluttered everywhere in my brain) which enables me to highlight my misunderstanding or gap in my knowledge much easier.
Continuous Maths for Computer Science
Maths so far is okay. We are learning about vectors. I don't remember much about them at all from high school so it is kinda new to me. They are definitely interesting. I definitely need to allocate a little more time to this unit as I want to ensure I am 100% confident with every concept so that I can do well on the exam.
Marketing
Marketing is meh - it's just assigning labels to basic ideas and concepts. Nothing that interesting so far. I hope it gets better. Given its relative lack of complexity, I will be so mad at myself if I don't get 95% for this unit.
Business and Economic Statistics
We just went over data distributions today. Nothing too interesting.
The lectures are just pre-recorded videos uploaded to Youtube. I really like this format, because we have access to the lecture material instantly at the start of the week, and we're able to work at our own pace.
Other
Gym has been good. Diet is okay - still not eating enough. I am struggling to find the time and energy to cook and eat cos I am studying all the time.
Haven't been reading at all. Really gotta try and get back into it. Again, I just don't feel like I have much time. I know I can make more time though.
That will be my goal this week - to make more time for myself to do things like reading and working on my own side projects.
Anyway, time to workout now (soo late god dammit I really gotta workout earlier)
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