Originally Posted by killza

i wish i knew academic focus >> girl focus
i wish i knew chem = goatsee
i wish i knew my priorities

goatsee? what do you mean?

Originally Posted by JeetDevDesai

goatsee? what do you mean?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=goatse

basically, without scaring your eyes, chem was one of those courses where it was WAY more difficult than it seemed.

O.O

aaaaaaah. reading about it was scary.

There are people on the internet that HAVEN'T seen goatse yet? Woww..

5 Things I wished McMaster students knew:

1. Starting off with good habits- regularly attending lectures, reviewing lecture material before and after lecture every day, reviewing material weekly, regularly attending gym, attending club meetings and extra curricular activities, having a proper diet(not eating oily, unhealthy foods), sleeping sufficiently(7-8 hours)

2. Control objects that cause procrastination, don't let them control you- laptops, ipods, television, alcohol, video game systems, dc++, etc.

3. Hanging out with the right people- trust me they influence you in a BIG way. Hang out with people who respect you for who you are, not people who bring you down or prevent you from studying or distract you from your ultimate purpose of coming to university.

4. Starting off assignments, projects, midterm review, exam review AS SOON AS YOU CAN.. because leave it to the last minute and see your marks go down, your stress levels go sky high, and your satisfaction levels go down.

5. Set performance goals, not outcome goals- this will prevent all the stress affiliated with outcome goals. for example, if I have a presentation coming up, make it a goal to focus on how you are going to deliver it rather than think how your presentation is going to make the audience or prof who is marking it feel or how terrible things might go. You can only control your efforts, not your results.

I just finished my first year of life sci, and in all honesty I thought it was an extremely tough year. I've only skimmed through a couple of the responses and alot of them seem to be about time- management skills, going to all your classes, asking questions, etc... I followed all these pieces of advice, and worked harder this year than ever before, but my grades have never been lower. I'm talking 95+ grades in highschool, to 50's. With that said, I wish I had known that hard work and high-quality studying doesn't necessarily equal good grades. Your grades will drop, it's just a fact of life, but it's an adjustment that everyone goes through, don't let it bring you down. For a while you might feel like an idiot surrounded by geniuses (at least that's how I felt the first couple of months - everyone just seemed to give off this "I am smart and everything is so easy!" vibe) but remember that in reality, most people are just as stressed and confused as you are. I wish I had known this and kept a positive attitude. Don't be too hard on yourself, and don't take everything too seriously. Be confident; after all, you got into McMaster University! Don't stress over insignificant things like chem quizzes or iclicker questions. Confused about any material? Google is your best friend. Biology, chem and physics labs will go a lot more smoothly if you read step-by-step through the lab manual beforehand, answering as many questions as possible on your own and 'filling in the gaps', to the point where you know EXACTLY what you have to do once you're actually in the lab. That way, you won't waste time, and there won't be any points where you have to frantically read through the manual going "what do I do next?"; you won't be under as much pressure.
That's all the advice I feel like typing out right now, lol, good luck!!

Originally Posted by marcie

I just finished my first year of life sci, and in all honesty I thought it was an extremely tough year. I've only skimmed through a couple of the responses and alot of them seem to be about time- management skills, going to all your classes, asking questions, etc... I followed all these pieces of advice, and worked harder this year than ever before, but my grades have never been lower. I'm talking 95+ grades in highschool, to 50's. With that said, I wish I had known that hard work and high-quality studying doesn't necessarily equal good grades. Your grades will drop, it's just a fact of life, but it's an adjustment that everyone goes through, don't let it bring you down.

Hmm that's unfortunate about how badly your grades dropped. Certaintly everyone's grades do drop, but it isn't so drastic for everyone.

My average in high-school was 91, after first year I had a 10.2 average (I did get a couple 12's and a few 11's, I had a suspiciously low Bio 1M03 mark [4]). I'd say that different schools will prepare you for university with different levels of success. Many schools can gear their classes towards rewarded straight memorization. I think if people go to a school like this, they can brute-force their way through studying and get 95's, but come first year university they're in for a rude awakening when they realize all our tests are now application-based.

I'd say that outside of proper time management, keeping your grades up is very dependent on finding study/learning strategies that WORK FOR YOU. Everyone learns differently. Some people need to read, other people need to write stuff out repeatedly, etc.

I'd say that for me, a really effective way of studying Chemistry was getting a res floor study group together. If you can teach someone else a concept, then you can absolutely perform well on a test!

One thing i wish i knew is that if you are a humanities student Mac is definatly NOT the best school choice for you. Going through course selection is brutal considering 3/4 of the classes mac has to offer in humanities are not even offered due to shortage of teaching staff and therefore you are forced to take classes that do not count towards your degree because everything is full.

Waist of time and money.

The Tank actually used to be a water tank didn't it?

BTW It can get extremely chilly in there I've found, so if you're in shorts and a t-shirt make sure you know what you want.

Another tip:

If you don't know where a certain building or room is, just ask someone. I get stopped all the time on campus by people asking me where this or that building is. I don't mind at all! I really doubt you'd ever come across somebody who wouldn't be happy to help you out.

Originally Posted by Kathy2

Another tip:

If you don't know where a certain building or room is, just ask someone. I get stopped all the time on campus by people asking me where this or that building is. I don't mind at all! I really doubt you'd ever come across somebody who wouldn't be happy to help you out.

Also for first years just an fyi theres some tiny wallet campus maps at the front desk of Mills library. There really handy. I always keep a few during the first month lol to give out if someone asks me for directions.

Originally Posted by cellphone

First year was the hardest for me because of all the course load and time managment skills I DID NOT HAVE!


4) I wished I got a part time job. I was too stressed thinking I would not have enough time to study but with all the time I spend on youtube, I couldha made a couple bucks.

5) Make some prof connections. Come reference time, this will stress most people out the most! If you have worked with or gone to a lot of office hours, this part won't be so bad.

6)Hang out with friends, make memories! Your time at McMaster is limited and will FLY by! Don't always be so stressed out about marks and forget to have fun!

the last three definitely apply to me right now in high school. Youtube and student awards drained my life.
Also i didnt get close to my teachers, bad for asking for scholarship recommendations and marks

Originally Posted by AnguishedEnd

Also for first years just an fyi theres some tiny wallet campus maps at the front desk of Mills library. There really handy. I always keep a few during the first month lol to give out if someone asks me for directions.

OK tht is definitly a MUST...

I've never been to campus other than to drop off a freind to her rez at night!
THANKS ALOT!!!

Here's something about welcome week. Everyone says it and I'll say it again: go to every event that you can, and enjoy it. It is awesome. BUT-and here's the thing I wish I HADN'T been told-don't make it out to be the end all of all things.

By that I mean this- Everyone makes out like welcome week is your big huge chance to make friends, and that they all met their best friends for life during welcome week. Well hearing this I went in with optimistic expectations. When I came out I quite frankly felt incredibly depressed and lonely. Now, with my first year over that's changed completely, I just wish I hadn't been made to believe that welcome week was THE time to make friends.
However that week goes, there are always new people to meet and that's really the fun of it.

Also along with that...when welcome week ends, start working. I made the mistake of treating it like high school, where you really don't do anything for a month. eeeee nope. Big mistake. I ended up scrambling to try and catch up essentially for my whole first semester, which sucked. A lot. Get on it from the get go, and you'll find it a lot easier.

Yes thank you crazyfree

I was under the impression that welcome is the only time to make friends.

Now you'll spare me the grief of feeling like a loner if i don't make any friends.

lol Thanks alot!!!!!!!!!!!