Actually listen to what your prof says. Sounds obvious but sometimes we can just ignore things they say and not give them a second thought.

they actually give hints so listen carefully, (although it might be hard at 8:30 am)

i love this threaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

uh ..question do the profs and TAs tell u ven office hours are?

merci in advance

Originally Posted by belindz!

uh ..question do the profs and TAs tell u ven office hours are?

merci in advance

Yes, you'll know their office hours. They are usually in the course outline, if not it's because they haven't set one yet.

Most of the events in WW are free and open to ALL first year students, on and off campus. Off Campus students group is called SOCS (Society of Off Campus Students).

Sometimes reading the syllabus can seem pretty pointless, but if you read only one part - read the breakdown of your grade.

One history tutorial I had was worth 20%, something a few first years missed entirely and never attended a single tutorial session - just an example of why it can be really important. The difference between a 65% and a 45% is well... attendance in tutorial in that case.

awesome

Hey Guys!

I don't know if this has been said, but even though you are new to Mac, you can still buy used textbooks and avoid the crazy high prices. Yes the bookstore does sell books that are used, but consider looking at the classifieds section on the titles website, macinsiders, or facebook! Also don't be afraid to ask an upper year for books!

Sahra

well im in 2nd year now and i wish sum had acutally seriously told me how much of a hugge workload uni is compared to highschool, while you go to class you dont find that there is a lot of work but guys trust me when you start opening up those textbooks you realise the crazy amount of content that you have, and its TRULY not memorizable in a few days worth of craming!! so you shoud REALLY READ each week...i no how much you guys wanna have fun and meet new people but oh man i tried cramming for one of my courses last year and barely got a good enough grade.

And ppl dun be afraid to just go up to new people and start talking with them cause we all want to make some new friends so dun be afraid to just to introduce yourself to someone sitting right beside you in class (dun disturb the class thou )

those are 2 of the things i wish i did a lot more of ! hope this helps

Originally Posted by bloodywarz

well im in 2nd year now and i wish sum had acutally seriously told me how much of a hugge workload uni is compared to highschool, while you go to class you dont find that there is a lot of work but guys trust me when you start opening up those textbooks you realise the crazy amount of content that you have, and its TRULY not memorizable in a few days worth of craming!! so you shoud REALLY READ each week...i no how much you guys wanna have fun and meet new people but oh man i tried cramming for one of my courses last year and barely got a good enough grade.

And ppl dun be afraid to just go up to new people and start talking with them cause we all want to make some new friends so dun be afraid to just to introduce yourself to someone sitting right beside you in class (dun disturb the class thou )

those are 2 of the things i wish i did a lot more of ! hope this helps

Interesting, I was going to say the exact opposite. I wish I knew that 'required' textbooks actually are not required 95% of the time (for science courses, at least). I would have saved several hundred dollars in first year. This term, I am buying one textbook, and that's it--it was only $48 too! Contrast that with several hundred dollars spent in first year on textbooks I never opened. For most science courses (especially first-year), everything you need to know is taught in class, and the textbook is only for clarification. Everything is in the lecture notes, so I would never waste time reading the books.

Originally Posted by nerual

Interesting, I was going to say the exact opposite. I wish I knew that 'required' textbooks actually are not required 95% of the time (for science courses, at least). I would have saved several hundred dollars in first year. This term, I am buying one textbook, and that's it--it was only $48 too! Contrast that with several hundred dollars spent in first year on textbooks I never opened. For most science courses (especially first-year), everything you need to know is taught in class, and the textbook is only for clarification. Everything is in the lecture notes, so I would never waste time reading the books.

wow really? i found it the total opposite, i never really used my textbooks much but they were raelly important espically for chemisty, and biology because they go much more in dept with the concepts and for biology some untalked concepts were in the textbook, but on the other hand the elective courses like geography and math didnt need the use of the textbook much.. your spending thousands of dollars on your courses why not spend just a few hundred more to get a much higher mark? and it mainly also comes down to the prof and their method of teaching best thing is to ask em cause most raelly do rely on the textbook while others work away from it

Originally Posted by bloodywarz

wow really? i found it the total opposite, i never really used my textbooks much but they were raelly important espically for chemisty, and biology because they go much more in dept with the concepts and for biology some untalked concepts were in the textbook, but on the other hand the elective courses like geography and math didnt need the use of the textbook much.. your spending thousands of dollars on your courses why not spend just a few hundred more to get a much higher mark? and it mainly also comes down to the prof and their method of teaching best thing is to ask em cause most raelly do rely on the textbook while others work away from it

I thought the textbook was good for math 1AA3 (not 1LS3) because of practise problems. Other than that, I found all of the bio textbooks, the chem book, and the physics book completely useless--everything you need to know is taught in class, so I never understood what more the book was for other than looking stuff up if you hadn't understood it in class and for some reason couldn't google it. The kin book was moderately useful, and the psych one was optional so I didn't buy it--I could have easily gotten away with not buying a single textbook in first year, and my marks wouldn't have changed at all (I got the 1AA3 book for free...and I took that course after first year anyways ).

Originally Posted by nerual

I thought the textbook was good for math 1AA3 (not 1LS3) because of practise problems. Other than that, I found all of the bio textbooks, the chem book, and the physics book completely useless--everything you need to know is taught in class, so I never understood what more the book was for other than looking stuff up if you hadn't understood it in class and for some reason couldn't google it. The kin book was moderately useful, and the psych one was optional so I didn't buy it--I could have easily gotten away with not buying a single textbook in first year, and my marks wouldn't have changed at all (I got the 1AA3 book for free...and I took that course after first year anyways ).

well that makes you one of those rare ppl who are smart o.o cause oh man first year bio ppl got merked cause they didnt use the textbook at, also in chemisty. its a better to be safe then sorry when ur spending so much money on our tuition. besides the first years need to see wether it the books help them or not for them self and its best to atleast get them for the first semester instead of risking their grades

I actually found the math textbook (1A03/1AA3) to be very helpful since I didn't have a very good prof. It was good to be able to see exaples that were correctly done and that have a different way of explaining the concepts. The physics textbook (1B03) was somewhat helpful with the capas since there were similar questions in the text. I think in first year its good to buy the books so you can figure out your learning style and if you are the type of person that better learns from the books.

Originally Posted by bloodywarz

well that makes you one of those rare ppl who are smart o.o cause oh man first year bio ppl got merked cause they didnt use the textbook at, also in chemisty. its a better to be safe then sorry when ur spending so much money on our tuition. besides the first years need to see wether it the books help them or not for them self and its best to atleast get them for the first semester instead of risking their grades

I think it would be more economical for people to not buy books right away. Like, if you're going to be tested directly on readings, or there are practise questions you want to do, then that makes sense, but otherwise you can wait and see if the textbook would actually be necessary and buy it a month or two into the term if you want. It's also usually available on reserve at the library, although that would still be inconvenient for off-campus students.

Me not using textbooks doesn't make me any smarter than people who do
I just absorb things well in lectures. People who don't learn a single thing in lecture would probably be very lost without the textbook--it doesn't mean they're dumb
Conversely, spending $100+ on a textbook doesn't guarantee you a good mark in the course--it's pretty useless if you don't learn well from textbooks, so the 'better safe than sorry' argument doesn't always apply...it could genuinely be a waste of money that doesn't help the person at all.

It depends on the person...and I knew I wasn't a textbook person going into first year, so I wish I hadn't listened to everyone who told me to buy them because I would fail without them. I know how I learn better than someone who has never met me, even though I was only just starting university and didn't know what exactly it would be like. I should have waited to buy the books instead of buying into the whole massive rush of MUST.BUY.BOOKS.NOW! that goes on.