Teaching Skills, Not Just Content

12 Pieces of Advice From Graduating Seniors That Every Freshman Should Follow

University graduations are officially over! As graduates make plans for their future and take on more responsibilities, many college seniors are looking to bestow you with their wisdom. While others prompt you to seek internships, others wish that you take care of your mental health before anything else.

Take a look at these helpful wise and comforting words from people, who have experience in the struggles of being a student.

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here’s 23 uni specific rules to help u out 4 future: 

rule n1: no zero days - never have a day where you do no uni work even if u just do 5 minutes no zero days no excuses 

rule n2: never miss tuts or lectures unless u r dying uni culture is great but u gotta get the d(egree) or its 4 nuthin alotta lectures are recorded so even if u can’t physically be there schedule a time to listen and treat it like a proper lecture

rule n3: spend 15-20 minutes doing work for each of your classes everyday (I do this in the morn when I get up) 

rule n4: replace your phone with ur readings take your readings with you on public transport and when u go to the toilet (srsly its weird but I do most of my readings there because I have nothing else to do) 

rule n5: be 2 days ahead, pretend everything is 2 days before it actually is so you’re prepared 

rule n6: go to bed before midnight for uni days always

rule n7: start all assignments 2 weeks before they’re due 

rule n8: never start anything after 9pm its better to wake up early when ur brain is rested

 rule n9: your brain associates places with actions so don’t study anywhere like your bed, have set spaces or go the quiet section of the library

rule n10: to do lists are your best pals write and review at the start and end of each day, make lil rewards 4 yourself when u complete them 

rule n11: help out other peeps with assignments, uni isn’t like school ur not competeing for ranks so everyone can help each other. it helps you focus, sometimes means you don’t have 2 buy text books and you know you know something if you can teach it to others 

rule n12: limit social media times i know its hard but u gotta 

n13: reward yo self and always look forward to things (this will keep you sane) but dont reward yurself fo nuthin 

n14: TURN OFF YOUR PHONE WHEN U R STUDYING OR PUT IT OUT OF REACH GODAMN U CAN TWEET LATER

rule n15: get your sleep (so your brain can sort shit) but don’t nap all day (your brain will get lazy af), eat at least one vegetable and 2 proper meals, never skip breakfast and take a multi vitamin there are cheap ones

rule n16: schedule the use of your freetime between and outside classes (see rules 7 and 5)

rule n17: project guternberg has heaps of books for free if your doing lit courses so check there before you buy things

rule n18: be strict on yourself, but not hard, you might be your own worst enemy somedays but you’re also you’re the only person who won’t give up on you

rule n19: plan your essays/assignments according to the marking rubric NOT the assignment question

rule n20: read your course outline and know who your professors/tutors are if u need help they are your bros

rule n21: ALWAYS ASK IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND bruh you are literally in class cos you want to be there and learn stuff its not school where u gotta be there and u dont wanna ask questions so you’ll look cool like you are there to learn so do it and dgaf what anyone thinks of u but also don’t be a dick and try 

rule n22: try and say one thing during class discussions and never leave a class without 3 dotpoints written down

rule n23: learn to say no bruh i get it you wanna go to that party cos if you dont ur mate will be pissed but guess what pal u have an assignment u gotta finish due tomorrow and lets face it thats gotta happen so say no because there will always be parties but you wont always get marks you lost back

100 Days Of Productivity: Day 4

Mere seconds ago I posted my DAY 3 post due to my productivity lag; I manage to get so much done during the day that I dont have time to write these reflections on the same day!

I am planning to get a head start on the remaining stuff left to do today which only involves going for a run and going to see friends; therefore this is sort of already the end of my productive day. The above picture is from a math lesson which I had today from 08:30 till 10, a lesson I usually spend with my head on the desk, occasionally mumbling a muffled ‘’meh’’ when asked how I’m feeling. Instead of the usual moan and groan morning routine I instead decided to switch up on the lack of sleep and just go with it; it ended up being really cool as I understood almost everything (apart from some things on the paper above, as you can see by the number of lines drawn through things) and felt really motivated. Later that day during triple biology I laso decided to change up my attitude as I had spent yesterday’s lesson sleeping for 1.5 hours and completely missing out on everything that happened during the lesson. I totalled roughly 4 pages of written stuff where I usally give up after the first page and proceed to go on tumblr or do something completely pointless with my time. Once into the late afternoon (now) I can feel the energy and motivation start to dwindle, which is why I am writing this day 4 post on day 4 (a personal first). 

So if anyone ever does read these, thanks for reading and stay posted for more posts relating to CAS or anything productivity related!

HOW TO STUDY A WEEK BEFORE AN EXAM

Day 7

List out all your topics, and highlight those you are least familiar with. I also love listing out the resources/materials I have to study. 

You should start reading and annotating the materials you are unfamiliar with.

Day 6

If you have not started making notes at all, it wouldn’t be wise to start making notes now. 

Instead, try to annotate things, write down explanations next to the things that you don’t understand, or definitions that you think can be elaborated.

Remember to be exam-oriented. Don’t spend time on things that are very trivial, or things that won’t be covered in the exam anyways.

At this stage, you should be focusing on annotating and enhancing your understanding of the materials.

Day 5

You should make sure you have most of your notes ready and that you have digested everything.

If you haven’t done a summary card, you should probably do it at this stage. This is a great way to consolidate your information.

Get a bunch of index cards. Write out the title of each chapter on each card.

Write the outline of the chapter. Alternatively, you can make a question attack plan for each chapter.

Turn over and write down some key terms that you don’t know. Or, you can write down some common mistakes, formulas etc, depending on your subject.

Day 4

With 4 days left, you should start memorizing things now. Focus on spellings and key terms. 

By memorizing, you can do the following:

Read the notes out loud, and repeat them by not looking at the paper (this is the way I personally use!)

Try to memorize, and cover the sheet and rewrite everything

Teach yourself, or to an audio recorder, or to a friend

Draw a mindmap without looking at your notes.

Day 3

You should go for some practice questions by chapter. 

You may also try to complete the exercises at the back of the chapter in your textbook. 

Don’t just do the practice question and throw them away. Make full use of it:

Check the answer. Find out what you failed to get right and failed to write down on the answer paper.

Understand your mistake. Understand why you make the mistake, and how you can avoid it.

Take notes of your misunderstanding and mistakes (as well as the correct answers). This will help you to avoid making the same ones.

Day 2

Repeat what you have done on day 3. 

Some teachers may also offer some mock papers or practice papers, or you may also try to complete past papers here. 

Day 1

You should do your very last review here. You should make sure you read through the following this day:

Your summary cards

Your notes

The notes you have made while doing the practice questions and papers

If your exam involves some formulas or difficult keywords or definitions, you may need to memorize them again this day.

Day 0

Now that’s everything. With all the preparation above, you should be very confident since you have got everything covered! All you have to do is to take a good breakfast and focus during the exam! Good luck!

For more details, check out the article on Students Toolbox!

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This has been a thing for a little while, but it certainly bears repeating! If you can get the certification (that’s definitely the trick here), it can work for some private loans too.

PREPARATIONS FOR AN EFFECTIVE STUDY SESH

1. Wash your face so you feel refreshed and ready.

2. Get a bottle of cold water and a small healthy snack to stay hydrated and nourished which really does help when you’re studying because it keeps the brain active. A study snack example could be, fruit and nuts or maybe a guilty pleasure (but don’t go overboard!)

3. Clean your study area if it isn’t already. Remember, a messy area = messy brain. But thats not the case always I know. However, a clean and organized study area stimulates your mind and makes you want to sit down and study.

4. Gather ALL your study essentials like your pens, pencils, ruler, paper (basically your general stationery), and most importantly, your actual subject material of course (textbooks, notebooks, handouts and past papers).

5. Lay all your study essentials neatly on the desk to how ever you think everything will be easily approachable.

6. Block out ALL distractions which will prevent you from studying effectively. Turn off your phone and put it away as far as possible. Put away EVERYTHING that you know for a fact that will keep you from studying your best. If you listen to music while you study, then classical music is said to be very helpful, however use the phone just for that purpose, and for what you will encounter in the next tip. You can also use your iPod if you have one or any thing that plays music. Just remember, don’t procrastinate. 

7. Set yourself a timer to make sure you don’t spend too much time doing one thing or waste time. Keep your phone ONLY for this purpose, unless your watch can set the timer, anything else. Most popular method is the pomodoro method. If you are unfamiliar with this, let me explain. So basically in this method, you study for about 25-30 minutes and take 5 minute breaks and then a long 15 minute break. You change this to how ever you want but don’t go extreme for example study for a about 40 mins and then take a 20 minute break. No. Again, if using the phone for the timer, PLEASE PLEASE refrain from checking social media. 

8. Start the studying now that you are fully prepared. Remember, practice active studying rather than passive studying. Active studying would include annotating lecture notes, doing practice questions, organizing and identifying main points, making summaries, etc. Passive studying would be just reading through your notes.

Hope you found my tips useful (and i hope they made sense) even though you probably saw these everywhere else. I’m just here spreading them out again to remind you what’s better for you and your grades and general studying. My name is Aditi, and I hope everyone is having a fantastic day! 

i cannot stress this enough

if you are an eligible voter in the US this coming election and bernie sanders does not have the democratic nomination

you. have. to. vote. for. hillary.

i am not fucking messing around

i am not gonna sit here while you write in names or go on some fucking strike. hillary is not on the same level as donald trump. all of you who act like that’s a hard choice are ridiculous. you vote for hillary clinton if she gets the primary. if you don’t, you give trump the presidency. clear and simple. normally i would not advocate against writing in names, but at this point writing in names would take away from hillary’s vote if she is the nominee–EVEN IF YOU WRITE IN BERNIE SANDERS, YOU GIVE TRUMP A HIGHER CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY, AND YOU DON’T WANT THAT.

not even a year ago y’all were laughing about donald trump. don’t fuck this up. in no world is hillary clinton as bad as donald trump.

Challenge yourself. College is scary and intimidating, but it can also be the best time of your life. It’s merely depends on your choices. You can chose to stand on the sidelines and stay the same person you were in high school, or you can open yourself up to new experiences and dive into everything college has to offer. College is the time to learn more about yourself and have fun while doing that. And it does not happen within the confines of your comfort zone. Do something you never thought you would. Sign up for trips. Dare to be different. Explore yourself. Challenge others. Challenge yourself.

Sponsored Zag MacKenzie Allan (’17)

Topics from A-level that are used lots in a Maths degree:

Note: This is just based on my experience of degree and A-level Maths and Further Maths. At degree I studied mostly applied mathematics and statistics/probability so this is based on that.

Differential Equations

These are particularly important in applied mathematics. I don’t think I’ve taken an applied module without them. If you haven’t done them in A-level, they are covered extensively in first year. 

Differentiation/Integration

Also key to applied mathematics, but also in probability and statistics. Methods are covered in first year too. Oh and in analysis too, but that tends to look at calculus in a new light. 

Matrices

These are everywhere. Particularly multiplying them, taking the inverse, eigenvalues and eigenvectors (these are in everything - even statistics), Diagonalisation comes up a bit too (probability, statistics). 

Vectors

Mostly the scalar product and vector product (these are everywhere). Not so much the geometry. Kinda like M2 where you have 3D motion, finding x, v and a etc. Most things become multi-dimensional as the degree progresses so just kinda know what a vector means.

Polar Co-ordinates

Loads of them in applied maths, but converting between Cartesians and Polars is probably the main thing from A-level Further Maths. I can’t really remember what is covered in FP2 but yeah. Most of the stuff at degree is new. 

Exponentials/Logarithms

How could I forget these??? I’d advise being really fluent with them because you’re kind of expected to know the log rules and converting between exponentials and logarithms. You were on my course anyway. Also the graphs of them are pretty important. 

Hypothesis Tests

If you’ve done S2 then lots of Statistics at degree is based around hypothesis testing. It’ll all be taught from scratch in first year but yeah. And it’s probably less confusing when you do it at degree. 

Complex Numbers

Just knowing how to manipulate really. They come up every now and again. Not to the extent that they do in FP2. 

Curve Sketching

Lecturers love putting this in exams because they know we hate it. I can’t remember doing a lot of it in A-level though, but yeah practise drawing trig functions and logs/exponentials and quadratics/cubics. 

Trig

Mostly just being fluent with trig identities because it’s another thing you’re just expected to be able to use when needed. Cos2x is a particularly good one to know. Hyperbolic trig also comes up. But really just knowing the exponential form because lecturers seem to love putting it in questions. 

Obviously it depends on what modules you take. At Notts you can take optimisation, game theory and graph theory in third year which follows on from Decision. Pure Maths is pretty much all new (I think OCR MEI FP3 has some group theory though). 

The main thing is to pay attention to first year because most of it is methods and skills that will be needed in second year. I mean, some of first year you’ll never touch again in your final years but yeah, most of it is useful. 

Also don’t worry if you haven’t done Further Maths. From my experience the content from Further Maths was covered at a relatively slow pace and at first you may have to work harder than people who did do FM, but you’ll catch up really quickly. 

3 SUPER QUICK STUDY TIPS

1. Everyone is different, but find a good rhythm to study in. What I mean is find a good time increment to study in, and a good time increment for breaks. For me, I like to study in 45 minute bursts and take 15 minute breaks. 

Note that it doesn’t have to be constant. Sometimes I’ll plug away for two hours and then run for an hour. There isn’t a set technique that works for 100% of the population, so you do you ☺

2. Stretch!!! This is important not just for exercise but for studying as well. Stretch before, stretch during, stretch after. Especially if you’re sitting on your butt for a while. This will be good for your joints, and also to get your blood pumping when you can’t break out and exercise.

3. Have snacks and water. Keep the snacks minimally messy, or eat with utensils so that you don’t make a mess all over your notes/textbook/laptop. Snacking healthily will help with metabolism and with keeping your focus on what you’re studying, NOT on food.