It has been so long since I blogged, I realize I tend to blog when I want a little rant and I haven’t had any rant moments this summer.  But I have got a lot of emails about the ER Scribe job I currently have so I’ll answer all of those, but give a quick UBC update.  So I have pretty much finalized with myself, because I am such an indecisive person which is why I keep changing my mind about majors!  I just want something doable, yet something that interests me.  If you’ve read my blog for a while now, you know I was biology, then I transitioned into CMS and then I debated CMS and Integrated Sciences.  I really liked my transition between biology to CMS because of the flexibility.  Biology is a great program and suits some people, but it doesn’t suit me.  CMS and Integrated Sciences offers the flexibility I want, and is a smaller program which is always good.  So I pretty much decided this summer that Integrated Sciences was for me, and I started off wanting to Integrate Microbiology & Immunology and Physiology.  But it seemed too heavy for me, and didn’t really capture what I want to do in the future. 

I want to go to medical school,  and I’d also like to go to third-world countries at some point and do relief work and help with the health in different communities….all I know is at some point I want to go to probably Africa and help with the nutrition, vaccinations, and techniques to limit disease.  Based on all of this, I finally decided that an Integrated Sciences major tying Nutrional Sciences and Microbiology would be optimal for me.  I haven’t had my complete application approved yet, apparently its a long process…but a process I’m willing to deal with because I really want to do this major.  For the major you have to pretty much set up a plan, course by course, fitting in all of the Faculty of Science requirements as well as Integrated science requirements, and this part is what took me the longest.  Based on my plan it looks like I’ll be done at UBC December 2014 instead of June 2014, only because certain courses were only available first semester and I can’t do it second semester and be done June 2014.  It’s things like that, that made the planning such a hassle, I think if I’ll be stuck till December I might as well make it an honors degree and add a few credits I’ll have to talk to the advisor about that.  Anyways!  I will be posting my schedule for next year when I’ve finalized it, I should post it within a week.  It may change a little bit if the Insc people dont like some course selections but I’m pretty certain of what I’m taking.  Since MCAT studying didn’t go quite as I planned this summer (that story is for another day) I’m gonna get a little headstart with some courses, especially Phyl 301 which seems like a semi-nightmare. 

Now on to my job.  I started my position as an ER Medical Scribe this summer, and it’s been a really great experience.  I’ve seen so many different patients and cases from mild to quite serious.  I think the coolest thing I’ve seen so far is the doctor stick a tube into a patients chest to reinflate the lung (atleast thats what I think he was doing).  Nonetheless, very cool to see.  One thing I am certain of now is that I’m not grossed out by blood, weird bodily functions, pretty much anything cringe-worthy I’m not grossed out by.  I already kind of knew this, but now I’m certain.  Someone emailed me that my blog came up when they searched ER Scribe Vancouver, which is pretty cool, just goes to show how new this is in Canada.  Also impressed that they were looking it up, as I didn’t know about being an ER scribe until I saw the email from Pre Med Society.  I did a little FAQ below that covers most of the questions I’ve been getting.

FAQ
1.  How did you find out about the position?
Through pre-med society at UBC.  It’s quite funny to me how everyone and their moms wants to do med school at UBC yet such a small amount of people are part of pre med society.  Anyways, join! 

2.  Where can I get more information about the program?
Well I’m in the first ER scribe program in Canada, so I assume there isn’t much information out there.  Before I had my interview I looked up the job in the states, and it’s pretty much the same duties.  So google!  If better resources for information become available, I’ll definitely put it on here. 

3.  How are the hours?
Well all the scribes have a doctor they primarily work with and you show up when the doctor comes, so that could be a normal morning/day shift, or it could be an evening/night shift.  The night shifts take getting used to, but their actually my favorite because I’m naturally a night person. 

4.  Can I get into the program?
As far as I know there are more doctors wanting scribes, so there likely will be opportunities, look out for it, sorry I can’t give a more specific answer.

5.  What exactly do you do?
I follow my doctor with patient’s chart and write down the past medical history, subjective, and objective (physical exam), as well as a few miscallaneous tasks.

6.  How long is training?
I’m sure this differs, I think I was done training after 6-8 shifts with each shift being 8 hours, somewhere around there.

As for all the people who wanted me to email them with more details, I will be getting to that very soon.  Also, apparently blog squad is going to be featuring only first year bloggers, I’m not sure, but bookmark my blog should that happen 😛  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! 😀

Second semester was about 10x better than first.  During the later part like early April, I got the flu!  And I had never had the flu before so when I was on my bed feeling like the world was on fire, I was really confused/scared/pissed.  Mostly pissed because I missed the Blog Squad Party, and because I couldn’t study for my IHHS final and catchup with Micb like I planned.  I ended up sleeping a lot before my final, doing most of the reading like 3 hours before the final, and managed to remember everything luckily.  But That was very annoying.  I am now done my finals though, all five of them 🙂  Reviews are below.

IHHS 200

Going in order of finals, and this was my first one, it was actually on the last day of school. And I had the flu still, so it wasn’t fun the night before.  Now I took this course to lighten the coursework.  It’s pretty much a small class, my class had 50 kids, and its more on the gpa bumping side when it comes to difficulty.  I took this class for a reason, but it also turned out to be very interesting.  We watched videos (which I love, cause if you know me I watch a lottt of tv, and things I watch stick).  A lot of the lectures seemed more conversational, like we really got to know the prof.  As for the structure, its midterm, paper, participation, and final.  Now you can replace the midterm with volunteering, so thats a free 25% and then participation, and he said he is lenient with the paper, and the final was straight forward mostly.  So there you go, I expect a 90+ and nothing less than 86, 80s im guessing i completely effed up something im unaware of.  I advise this class to someone who wants to go to an interesting class every other morning, and not worry about doing poorly.  Technically you have no obligation to write notes for the first half of the course if you dont plan on taking the midterm, since the final isn’t cumulative…yet the way some girls would violently write, knowing they werent doing the midterm shocked me.  Like really…? *sideeye* Anyways, great class, AMAZING prof, as I’ve stated before, and I’m hoping to do IHHS 300 next year, wish I could minor in it but not available at UBC.

Chem 205

Still shaking my head at this course, which I had the most time to prep for..sorta, but managed to just screw up.  I didn’t care about the course too much going in, because the final was 70%, so I’m like, my midterm means nothing, and the quizzes are 15% im set either way, just gotta go nuts with the final.  I ended up doing good on the midterm, and getting 95+ on quizzes, so I was going in solid.  I had a day in between microbio and chem, and I was majorly behind in MICB, so I spent a lot of time reading instead of doing chem, by the time I was doing chem, it was too last minute, and I know I need time to be efficient.  I finished the problem sets, and I slept 6 hours that night (big mistake, shoulda done an allnigter) and during that final, there were many uncertainties, when I know its the kind of class where your just like ok do x, get y, do z get whatever.  Like I was unsure of some steps, and I changed answers on a few things, so I just dont know how it went. Coulda went great, could have went horrible.  Thing I thought would be hard (Spectroscopy) turned out to be the easiest.  Probably the most ignored course this semester, wondering if my grade shows it.. 🙁

Micb 202

Favorite class this term.  Immunology was a great introduction into the course, the topics were actually interesting.  Sometimes I feel like I am mindlessly memorizing, but the topics of this course were too interesting to not reflect.  I felt very prepared for the midterm, and got the average, 78, which was disappointing, but also showed how smart the kids in Microbio are wow (most of the class is I can assume..microbiology students).  After reading week, I pretty much stopped my routine, there are a lot of factors that contributed to this, but before I know it, Micb readings piled up, luckily I read Bacterial Diseases, but I still wasn’t even halfway of Virology when finals started.  Regardless of me stressing and cramming, the material was great, the final was good, some sneaky tricks, but what else can you expect from UBC Science.  I ended up remembering things I did a long time ago(weeks-months) better than things I did 1 to 3 days before, I’ll make sure to keep this in mind for next year. Overall I think I did well.  Because I left Biology (best decision of my life) this course was what I pretty much chose.  I chose it over Micb 201, and I’m glad because Micb 201 seems like such a bore.  I think I disliked Bio program so much because it felt more like Animal Biology than Human, and of course the way exams are structured.  There are 3 different profs for this course to teach the 3 different sections.  Immunology was my favorite, Virology the easiest, and Bacterial Diseases the most straight forward but long.

Eosc 326

I took this course as part of the whole Combined Major scheme, and switched out of CPSC, probably ended up being a good decision.  There are 2 midterms, one 15%, and one 20%, two labs each 10%, and a final 45%.  I studied hard for the first midterm, did really well, slacked for the second and did not so great.  The class is online, so the midterms are open book, but timed.  And trust me, doesn’t matter if you have everything typed on a word doc and your fingers are glued to CTRL-F, it just doesn’t work out.  Luckily the labs are not timed, so its easier to do well.  The final isn’t open book, so this can be a huge jump if your used to the online midterms and labs being open book to suddenly being expected to memorize everything.  I pulled an allnighter for this final, well I slept 2 hours, survived on digestive crackers, coffee, and pepsi.  The final was a 7pm final, so I slept 5am-7am that night, and blazed on till 6:30pm and walked to the final.  It went well, it was 50% multiple choice, which I killed, I kind of like multiple choice I’m seeing that now, big change from high school. There was fill in the blank, and I know I got 8/10 on that, and the last part was just explaining some aspect of a nautolid shell…but one of the things I memorized, so I’m feeling good about this class, glad I switched in.

Bio 201

Last final I took!  You can imagine, I was ecstatic when I finished this, well not too ecstatic, I had a day to study between this final and Eosc, and had maybe 2 days before eosc.  Overall, I felt time was thin for this final, and I under-estimated how much time I would need (i always do this).  People pace when they are nervous, I write out a schedule, to almost assure myself, things can get done.  I think I gave myself 2 hours for each problem set, and somehow it dragged onto 4 hours, so at that point I knew, I’m not sleeping for this final (12pm).  I really liked Bingle, but ended up skipping a lot of the later classes because of at first just tiredness, but then when I got sick, I didn’t go.  I’m hoping I luckily still get all my clicker marks.  The final was better than I thought it’d be, I thought itd be some mindcrunching, confusing, tricky headache, but I was going really slow, managed to finish, and even understood the part I thought I wouldn’t.  So I’m excited to see my grade for this class as well, won’t be as high as I wanted I’m sure, but still higher than like 4/5 of my classes last semester…smh.

OVERALL:  Best semester yet, around a 20% jump from last semester to this semester is my guess.  Last Year it was a 6% jump between semesters, so I don’t know what it is with me and first semester.  It might be the weather, weather affects your mood, and the weather is very depressing first semester. Not sure, but I hope the good grades, continue I need to work hard the next 2-3 years to rejuvenate my average so I have a chance at med school.

———

ALSOOOO some good news on the side, that I will elaborate on later –>  got a job for the summer and onward, at a hospital.  I will be part of the first ER Scribe program in Canada (and its limited in the States), if you want to know some of what they do google it  :).  I will be doing training first, and need to go read a Medical Terminology for Dummies book (cens 202 will definitely help) but I am so excited.  Having that firsthand experience and exposure is priceless!

Reading Week

…was awesome!  Not academic wise, i got nothing done.  But I did volunteer at an elementary school in the east-side of Vancouver, and it was great.  It wasn’t what I had anticipated I didn’t know the volunteers would be in the class the whole day for 3 days, pretty much following a lesson plan created by our group leader.  And a lot of times we would have extra time, and it was fun to kind of think on the spot, and think of a game or activity for the students.  I taught grade 4/5 students, the experience was so great, the kids were so awesome.  Kids are really smart!  I wish I had their memory, these kids memorized things from day 1 that we taught that I couldn’t remember.  I will be going to volunteer hopefully once school is over, it’d be fun to go back.

Now because I had to be up early every day, I couldn’t stay up late.  This was a problem for me, because I study better at night, its weird but when I studied for all my midterms I was studying hardest like 2am to 7am and then i’d sleep and wake up 2-3 hours before my midterm(they were all evening midterms), Bio 201 was 7-9 and this worked really well for me because this has been my best “midterm season” since I got to this school.  I think the key difference is that I got 6 hours before every midterm too.  Now, the only midterm grade I didn’t have after reading week was Biol 201, or Biochem.  And it showed up on vista, and I was so scared, because its a whopping 35%, a huge chunk of my grade.  I felt like I did well on the midterm but its usually safe to deduct 10 to 15% from what you ‘think’ you got.  And when I saw my grade my first thought was like “what happened!” Because it was really low.  Like were the ta’s grading crazy, did I screw up somewhere, what happened!  This was the first midterm grade that was bad, and below average (I later found out the average was 72).  So this depressed me so much, like how come I’m below the majority after studying 3 days straight.  I didn’t study much for like 4 days after this, I guess I went into a bad funk if that makes sense.  You know how it is!  Those days you try to study and its just not working out and you just sleep and fall more and more behind…-_-  Well anyways I signed up to view my midterm to see ‘just where it all went wrong’  And I looked through it.  Biol 201 TAs are real cruel about a few things…if you went to see your midterm please tell me you agree!  Like I’ll have the right idea completely, know exactly what I’m talking about, for a few questions the answer key and my answer were almost verbatum… and then i’d add the word “better”  as in… “creating a stronger nucleophile would lead to a better attack..yada” instantly because of the word ‘better’ -1.  Apparently its redundant and makes it seem like I don’t understand what nucleophiles do *sighhhhhh*  And because i repeated myself in different words another -1.  But nothing I said was incorrect, a few redundant statements maybe, but I’ve never been a great writer!  I BSed my way through English 110.  So it annoys me that I lost most of my marks on trivial things like that.  I guess I know now how things are, so when the final comes around, I know to really pay attention to how I am writing, and to keep it simple.  BUT THATS NOT EVEN THE CRAZY PART.  So I accepted the grading, and decided to just add up the marks before I left, I did and my heart literally dropped.  Because the number on my calculator was 10% higher.  I re-calculated, same thing.  Then I gave it to my prof to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and he got the same number I did, and there you go, now my grade makes more sense!  I’m ok with it, I still want to improve for the final, but WHAT A RELIEF.  This was 35% , and a 10% increase goes a long way.  THANK GOD I added it up, before I left sheesh.  This just goes to show how important it is to look at your midterm over, TAs aren’t computers and don’t think for any reason your midterm won’t be the one they screw up on.

Binta

Hey guys,

This will be a short entry, I want a break from studying for my Biol 201 Midterm.  It’s like an “exam,” its 35% and 2 hours long..and I haven’t kept up, so I am just taking the next 3 days to ignore every other course…and focus lol.  As for my other classes, well I don’t “go” to chem 205, because it’s actually pointless to me, I’d rather sleep and have the energy to study for the course.  That sounds like such a bad excuse, but this new prof writes on the board so I will go now.  But we got our midterms back, I am fine with my grade.  It’s above average, I wish it was as high as my chem 123 midterm, but that multiple choice… in the long haul, I only lost a few percents, so I’m good.  Micb 202 grade should be out by Friday latest, i feel like I did good, but at UBC you just never know!  I feel like this has been my most chill semester since I’ve been here, like I sleep more, eat more, chill more..lol.  This new major is what I needed!  Freedom!  I’m hoping to pull my average up like 15% from last semester (it was that bad…) and it’s veryy possible with my elective.

I took my Eosc midterm last night, so annoying.  I didn’t read till the day before (WHY!) and it’s online but clearly I didn’t know my stuff well enough.  I got a B, and thats fine, it’s just one of those classes you know damn well you could get an A.  My first midterm went too well, and I figured this one would too, this just goes to show, ALWAYS BE SCARED.  AlWAYS think you’ll fail, that way you prepare for the worst, and you’ll be prepared.  So, I want to stop being comfortable, I should hang up my Bio 204 midterm from last semester in my room as motivation of what can happen if you get comfortable lol. 🙂  Back to Biol 201 studying ! -_-

Hello everyone!

It has been too long since I’ve blogged, and a lot has happened since Jan 8 2011, wow it’s actually exactly a month since I’ve last blogged.  Ok first of all I changed my schedule around, I am no longer pursuing computer science.  It was around 2 weeks into the course, and I just felt so lost.  The thing that irked me the most is when someone would ask a question using terminology (not taught yet) and discussing things that went far beyond the realm of the course.  I feel bad enough that I can’t get everything as fast as I’d like to, and I think I got over the fact that so many people in that class had programming experience, but I think the professor tended to them more than he did those that had no experience whatsoever.  It didn’t feel like a beginner course for me, and after spending DAYS studying, and still not getting WEEK1/2 stuff, I already knew it was…my time to head on to ssc, click that tab that says registration, click that tab that says Add/Drop courses, and GET OUT OF CPSC110.  My dad is a computer scientist/programmer and I got him to help me but it wasnt enough, to get through this class Id need him daily.  And I thought it’d be teaching intro Java with a textbook, but its changed completely now they’re not really teaching a specific language, but …I won’t even go into it, its too messy for me.

NOW..

Onto classes I’m actually taking.   I decided to stick with the Combined Major in Science, but switch from cpsc to eosc, and i’d only need to take 3 eosc courses to satisfy that portion of my major.  I feel like im constantly switching, but this is safe, and it’s about the most flexible major at UBC, well after Integrated Sciences I think.  I think having more control, and choice with my courses is what I need.  I’ve had two midterms back to back, and one on Sunday(online course) and I can honestly say I’ve slept a lot this week, and I felt good/decent about both, and this doesnt happen to me ever, so this major is probably what I should have done to begin with, Biol 204 will be my biggest regret at UBC i’m sure.  I will give a quick update about each course

Eosc 326

This is one of the eosc courses I must take as part of my combined major, I actually had a wide selection, I only take 3 courses, and this is 1/3 of them.  It’s an online course, I came in about 2 weeks late and had a midterm & lab the following week (together 25%), so I definitely buckled down, and while I gave it a lot of time, I can tell this isn’t a class that can get to be too much to handle.  I’ve done really well on everything so far, my midterm was my highest midterm ever at UBC tied with Chem 123, and my lab was great as well.  Hope to continue, didn’t expect this class to be a GPA booster..but it just might be 🙂

Ihhs 200

I’ve been very sick, so I missed some classes, but so far the professor is still great!  I actually just signed up for UBC Trek Reading Week Program, the orientation is Saturday, but it will be my volunteering that I’m doing for this course.  You can replace a midterm and report with volunteering, so I can’t be mad at that!  The final should be straight forward, and I have to start focusing more in this course!

Chem 205

OMG why didn’t I make a separate post about this course!  I feel like this is about to be a longggg paragraph.  So i’m about to go in on pretty much the whole department thats in Chem 205.  FIRST OF ALL:  Why were you guys unable to send a MASS email that SIMPLY STATED what was on the midterm, what the cutoff was, and what we weren’t responsible for.  Though it’s a section wide midterm, people were being told different things.  We were assigned problem sets, but there were apparent questions that we weren’t responsible for.  The discussion board was MASS confusion, every time I went on it, it was something new.  “OK …umm my prof said we are responsible for Clapeyron”…oh really “my prof said not to worry about it too much”…ok.. “my prof said we arent responsible for some problem set 2 questions” SO THE DISCUSSION BOARD WAS PRETTY MUCH A GIANT HEADACHE.  It’s crunch time, and these kind of trivial matters are just annoying.  When I was studying for the midterm I looked and looked for practice/old midterms, but there were NONE.  If I had JUST ONE I know for sure, I would have done way better because I’d know the format, and get all the little tricky things.. especially in a course like chem 205, once you know the tricks, and your good with equations, your solid.  Nonetheless, I can’t say that I’ve ever been as ‘nonchalant’ about a midterm as I was for this.  Like I didn’t read the webtext..ever..because all those derivatives were too intimidating, so I spent the week prior to the midterm reading/taking notes, but it wasn’t like I was going hardcore.  Fact of the matter is…I know how I am, finals schedules came out, and I will have time for this final.  Its 70%, and 15% are quizzes with TWO attempts 😀  Meaning you can pretty much get perfect every time.  In the grand scheme of things getting an 80 or a 90, or getting a 70 or a 80 is not too big of a deal in the grand scheme.  If I could learn half of Chem 233 in 3 days and beast my final…4 days for Chem 205 should be fine, that 15% on quizzes doesn’t hurt either.

Biol 201

Okay, so this course has taken a “backseat” this week(and last week) because I have other courses with midterms, but I think my prof Bingle has so much swag for a prof! Haha he’s not my favorite prof at UBC, but he has this chill vibe, where it’s like hes very comfortable with the material, so it makes YOU feel comfortable with the material, he teaches so well without even trying!  I’ve went to other sections, and they may have more clickers, or whatnot, but he is just so chill, and explains complicated things in the BEST ways.  I missed a few classes last couple weeks (X_X).  I will NEVER miss a class again, this is a promise to myself.  I also have this eery feeling like this could be my worst grade this semester, so I have to catch up!! ARGHH.

Micb 202

Just had my midterm today, and it was a whopping 34%.  Okay (watch me change my opinion when grades come out lol) I reallly really really really really love the material for this course.  This course is divided into 3 sections: Immunology, Bacterial Diseases, and Virology.  And Immunology was just so interesting!  I think it’s because for once I’m learning about actual people not animals (*cough* Biol 204 *cough*).  And I was at the pace of the class at the beginning, but then started going at my own pace later on, really making sure I knew everything before I moved on.  And I would find myself like saying “damn..” or “wow…” or just Shaking My Head as I read the different topics in Immunology section.  Like how you get bacterial infections, how the innate, and adaptive immune responses rise to action.  It started off being so complicated at the beginning but then it just all seemed simple at the end.  And you learn so much about infections, like HIV.  Do you know that you can have a HIV protein just chilling in one of your cells for years and years…just waiting to attack!  That’s just one of the things.  How a guy with cancer AND HIV got cured by getting a bone marrow transplant from some with a defective CCR5 gene.  How crazy is that, and I always get ideas, like what about this, or what about that.  It just seems like a really important subject, that could do so many things for mankind.  We are moving on to bacterial diseases now, so I don’t know if the interest will continue, but I hope so.
AS FOR THE MIDTERMS.  I have a question for UBC Science Faculty.  What are you guys so AFRAID OF?  Why is the very thought at a B average for a midterm horrifying for you guys?  Why?  Why can’t the average be a B+?  I always thought that too many Science students at UBC are mentally psychotic when it comes to helping their peers, its too competitive, and now that I think about it, what do you expect when the professors or whoever is their boss, cringes at the very thought of students doing well. I undertand first year, fine weed out the med school keeners, but can this end?  That midterm was I would say good, I think I did very well…but when a prof says something like “I really hate x type of questions, but we have to do them or else too many people will do well”….AND? Whats wrong with that? I REALLY hope that this mentality changes 3rd year+ (SOMEONE TELL ME IT DOES)

Okay thats all for today, good bye folks

and btw how ILL is this video!

Ok So the classes I am taking this semester are

Chem 205, Micb 202, Biol 201, Ihhs 200, and Cpsc 110

I’ll go over my thoughts on each course, so far, first week is typically “syllabus week” but didn’t see too much of that this time around.

Chem 205

So I actually just switched out of my mwf section to a tth section due to schedule conflicts bleh.  So the professor I’m going to tuesday will be different.  The prof I had on Monday was… Lets just say I notice that those sections MWF 10-11 tend to be where all the super smart kids are and where the best profs are as well.  [flashback to chem 233 mwf section with Dake class average was 10% higher than my section, and people told me his quizzes paralleled really well to the midterm, makes sense since he wrote most of the midterm/final I hear..smh].  So I made sure to get into that 10-11 section.  Approximately 6 minutes in to the class I was on my phone looking for other sections to switch into!  The guy seemed a bit random and misdirected.  I usually have a gut feeling about profs, like I knew Spiegelman would be my favorite prof ever for Bio 112, and I still felt that way at the end of the course.  He’s not horrible..I just know his teaching isn’t preferable for me.  Regardless I planned to stay in the course because at the end of the day this is a self taught course, all courses at UBC feel like self taught, but this class is definitely self taught and I have lecture slides from previous years (lol) and the slides he presented were virtually the same…  People say this class is easy, and if its anything like the first portion of Chem 123 then it should be my best grade, but you lose once you thought you’ve won, so I’ll still go apecrazy on this course.  Hoping the t/th prof is a bit better..

Micb 202 mwf 1pm

Microbio!  This course is as far as I know my only reading intensive course.  I like to read, reread, and take notes, and this seems like the only course I’ll be going through all of that for.  I had a whole book dilemna, I try and stay away from the bookstore at ALL COSTS.  And due to copyright yada yada we had to buy an associated textbook with the course package making it almost 90 bucks.  You couldn’t buy it separately, well now I hear the profs are selling the course package separate in 2 weeks time – HECK NO I’m not waiting 2 weeks to start reading…So I sucked up and bought it.  Its frustrating because the profs said themselves the midterm is based on the course notes, and the textbook is for “figures” cause of the whole copyright dilemna.  I posted on the UBC textbooks for sale facebook page saying I wanted to buy it, and noone replied, seem like everyone was buying on that page.  I randomnly creeped craigslist and luckily found a girl selling last years for 15 bucks!!  So I met up with her at a Safeway parking lot and got it!  It’s so much better because the Immunology/Bacteria/Virology books are separate and bound unlike the ones at the bookstore.  So I am returning the one I bought Monday morning, glad I never opened it.  I didn’t understand the first two lectures, because I didn’t read.  Nothing I hate more than not reading before lecture, because it feels like a waste of time.  So I’ve been reading this weekend and WOW.  The terminology is pretty intense for first week reading, they are not easing you into it.  I also noticed the first lecture wasn’t very syllabus based, the prof jumped into it, and clearly no one had a clue because its the first class.  Second lecture, same deal, by next lecture I should know whats going on.  Though the terminology is already so detailed, it is really interesting, and I feel like I’m finally learning something really relevant.  I mean all courses at UBC (give or take a few *cough* bio 204 *cough*) are relevant, but this seems relevant for what I want to do in my future.  It’s filled with Microbio students who at this point have shown they have strong averages, hope I can keep up!  First midterm is early Feb I believe, I already found out Chem and Micb are back to back midterms (joy) so I can’t wait to see how that goes!

Biol 201 mwf 3-4

My prof’s notes are the truth.  This is all I ask for, for a prof to explain a topic, WRITE IT OUT (i hate slides) and provide examples.  I could hear a church choir during that first lecture.  Never ever missing a lecture, came 10 minutes late to the second lecture (i get distracted during my breaks..) but I still got the notes and understood everything.  His notes seem familiar too..I found some notes when I was studying for Chem 123 that were 50x better than my profs, and they helped me  a lot.  So far the material seems like a mixture between physical chemistry and organic chemistry.  Exactly why I think Biochem is just a fancier way of saying Chemistry!  I got the course package for the book, and it seems straight forward for the most part..but I wont underestimate it.

Ihhs 200 t/th

It was a gift getting into this course.  It’s my elective this year, and after my tumultuous first semester I needed a good elective.  The prof seems like a jolly sweetheart!  He kept playing with his beard the whole lecture, talking about his dog(he showed us pictures) and he told us he had a 17% average in University… that definitely gives everyone some hope.  There’s only 50 kids in the class, and its mostly 4th years (probably because they have earliest registration and got it first).  He told us the midterm was straight forward, fill in the blank, that it wasn’t gonna be mind games or tricky( *cough* Faculty of Science *cough*).  Besides, you can replace the midterm and paper with community service and a 2page report on how your community service went,etc.  That report is due in April, and a lot of kids in the class are doing community service so they are already set.  He said you can even do a week of it during reading week.  Sounds good to be!  The average last year was in the 90’s, lowest grade 86, I wouldn’t mind being the worst kid in that class…I’ll leave it at that.

Cpsc 110 t/th 

I’m doing a Combined Major so I chose to integrate computer science.  In fact I was thinking of Integrated Science, it’s going to be one of them, regardless I’m doing computer science.  Med school is my dream, and it’s an ambitious goal, but lets say I apply to 30 schools, get into 0, then taking 2 years off to do a Masters in CS can be an option.  I could reapply to med school after that or pursue a CS profession.  It’s good to have a backup plan, a lot of people aiming for med school don’t.  The class was hard to find, I swear as a science student you get use to circling Wesbrook, Hebb, and Chem building.  The room looks cool, the prof seems cool, but I worry.  So many students seem to know more than they should.  It’s an introduction class, yet many kids in there know Java, C++…  I was walking behind some guys after class laughing about how they’ve been doing this since grade 7 (what school did they go to!)  I wish I took AP Computer Science instead of AP Physics in high school now.  I’m just going to work hard to understand the material, practice every day, my dad told me that’s what it’s all about with computer science.  I just love the idea of making programs, designing websites, and all of that nerdy stuff, and by the end of my time at UBC I’m excited to have those skills along with my Science degree.

So you know what advisors in high school always say, that you don’t have to know what you want to do right away in college, that people switch a lot.  Well they don’t tell you that you waste credits, lose credits, or spend MORE time because of this.  My mind is spinning because I know I have to get out of my program and I’m just frustrated that I had to go through a semester before figuring out the program is not for me (Biology).  I thought it’d be simple, ease me into any other program should I ever decide to switch.  I’m thinking of Combined or Integrated Major; either way I’d be mixing Microbio and Computer Science.  I like Microbio, because I liked Bio 112 and I looked up some midterms and lectures, it seems antithesis to Biol 121 and Biol 204 and more like Bio 112 and Biol 200… Pretty much I am interested by all the evolutionary biology, but that interest doesn’t translate to midterm and final grades -___-

I don’t want to make the same mistake twice!  So if there is ANYONE out there, I want advice from those with friends who have done computer science classes at UBC or better yet, have taken them.  I kind of know what to expect with Microbio courses, I don’t expect them to be easy, but I know they are more doable for me.  I just don’t want to end up in a hole, I am actually applying to a few “easier” school JUST to have a little BACKUP plan in case this year doesn’t end so well.  Med school is still a goal for me, and lets just say having experienced undergraduate education elsewhere, I promise you, UBC is something else when it comes to grades.  I know people working half as much doing 10000x better, and I myself worked half as much and did 10000x better at UCLA, and while some schools in the States (key word some, there are still a lot that dont) pay attention to (an A at X may not be the same as an A at Y), apparently all Canadian schools don’t care that an A at UBC is quite different from an A at Langara (no offense to Langara, I’ve thought about taking summer courses there, its a good school).  The reason I’m so pessimistic, grade-wise, is Biol 204.  That course seriously destroyed my morale, the good outcome out of this situation is that I now know to stay far away from Biology program specific courses, and those bio courses that include writing essays are not for me, it’s really TA dependent…and I don’t want to go here…but I must!  Some TA’s were great in Biol 204, but my TA clearly hardly came prepared, I’d ask a question, she’d go to the book, and then forget to answer me, or she’d ask a question for us, and forget the answer… and these were the same TA’s grading harshly on the midterms (haven’t seen grading this harsh since ochem mt 1)  *sigh* this course was a mess!  I’m sure everyone at UBC has that one course they wish they never took, this was mine!  I’ve talked so much about this course, that when I do the semester ‘wrapup’ i won’t have much to say, or maybe I will when I see my actual final grade haha.

But as I was saying, if you know how the CS classes at UBC are let me know!  The midterms I looked at look like rocket science, but I can tell it’s something you do well in if you prepare well and keep up with… but I’d like advice before I completely drop and add classes, I want this done before the 30th so any advice is great.  And I am interested in Computer Science, my job this summer had some computer science integration, it’s pretty much useful for any career future wise, because lets face it, technology is the future, IPADs and all these apps will look like phones with antennas: antient.  It also sets me up with a backup plan, a backup plan to a backup plan to a backup plan.  Haha my backup plans for med school are 1. schools I really want 2. schools i’d like and only look at MCAT not GPA  3. Australia 4. Nigeria (born there) lol  >>> Then computer science backup is to pursue Masters in CS and go from there.

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First Year Midterms/Finals

On a side note!  I have recieved many emails from students asking how I find midterms/lectures ->>  Look online they are everywhere,  I literally spent a day listening to music and racking up all these resources into folders.  I also get emails saying if I could send, I replied to most, and others I said I’d get to it.  Instead of going through my email looking, just comment below with your email and I’ll send it.  I have a lot more useful stuff for semester 2 for UBC Science.  If your realllyy uncomfortable putting your email on here, then email bintamustapha13@hotmail.com, and I will try to reply to each one 🙂  Happy Holidays!

Worst semester of my life.  I will now go into the details.

Rewind to October of 2011.

Now I was getting ready for midterms, which were at this point right around the corner.  I felt good about Chem, great about Biol 204, weary for Biol 200, and good about Clst 301.  Now All I know is my clst midterm could have went 1000x better had I not had a Biol 200 post test right before..and in Biol 200, for some reason the post tests always go past the time the class should end.  It should end at the :50 mark so if you have a class after you have time.  Not the case for Biol 200, its usual for the class to take up the full hour, and knowing I had a midterm afterwards I didn’t like the idea.  I like to BREATHE and cool down and review before a midterm, not take a test and run to the midterm.  My big regret is not leaving the post test and taking it the next day (with -10%) and actually having time to breathe and review before my midterm.  I have a 30minute break for all my clst quizzes and thats why my tutorial grade for clst was so high.  My grade on the clst midterm was good, i was pretty much the average, but I KNOW it should have been much higher, and thats whats disappointing.  That week was just *shudders* horrible.  Biol 200 Post Test, Clst Midterm, Biol 200 Midterm, and Biol 204 Midterm, and of course two labs back to back and two midterms back to back, as in night to morning (sigh).  By the end of that week I slept for like 18hrs catching up.  Getting midterms back… was not fun.  Clst was ok, it was the average. Biol 200 on the other hand!  I clearly didnt know what was going on with the experiments, if I had TIME to do the practice midterms I had, I would have had atleast 10% more, why?? because one of my midterms had the same problem VERBATUM, and I mean exact same question!  Too bad I didn’t have time, because I was too busy reading.

Biol 204….this course deserves its own blog post, so I’ll save that for later.  Chem 233….. the TA’s are on something else.  Deductions for the most trivial things ever…and I had an issue that I’ll discuss later as well concerning 233 grading! So much drama this semester wish I blogged more capturing those moments! 🙁

Grades haven’t completely come out, just Clst 301, and Chem 235.  235 is semi-surprisingly bad.  Use to all my chem lab grades being mid to high A’s…and this was the funnest(if that’s a word) chem lab and by far…my lowest.  It’s only 1 credit so I’m not spazzing out, but still…Ive noticed at UBC that the most fun/interesting course always ends up being my lowest.  Note to self: try not to enjoy courses or find them interesting -_____-  Biol 204 for sure was the most interesting course (we dissected sharks, pigeons, rats, and cute mudpuppies) yet I am 100% sure that will be my lowest grade to date, ever, in my life.  The lab portion of the course is 40% (I know! Thats a lot!)  The final for the course is only 35%.  The midterm is 15%.  I walked out of that final thinking…”easily 90+”  First of all, one of the questions was on a practice midterm I found, and I kept up with this class soooo well.  So thoroughly (I said I wouldnt discuss this course..but oh well) and by thoroughly I mean, notes on the book, notes on the slides.  Typed up objectives. In short, I put in more effort for this class than probably all the other courses added together..which is not good.  Now after I got the midterm back, and it was far from my expectations, I was so disappointed that I kind of “fell off.”  This wasn’t great, but at the same time, the way they graded the midterms was so horrible.  This is how I KNOW.  I had a question off the midterm, I pretty much wrote what I remembered and didn’t get points for it.  The TA’s didn’t even turn the page to see all my writing/work.  I could tell because they had red marks on the page strangely(if I showed you you’d know) and didn’t check the back.  The professor acknowledged that the TA’s did a bad job and gave everyone 5%…which is fair..but not necessarily fair to people who weren’t screwed over by the TA’s.  Anyways he said, if you check the answer key and you deserve more than 5% come to me..so lets say you deserve 7% youd get 2 more percent% -____-  The course in total, was just messy.  The book was sooo complicated that it took me hours to get through, only to find out (when I was studying for the final) that the book isn’t needed…*sigh* The lab exam for this course, which was 22% of your grade in THE COURSE.  I was not healthy that week, and was definitely disoriented and sick during that lab exam.  If I could go back in time I wouldn’t have went and gave a doctors note (oh yeah, I did have a doctors note, just didn’t use it) There goes 22% of my grade.  204, 204, 2o4.  Nothing seemed to want to go right this semester.  I don’t even know what to say, because I did work hard, and I did study nearly everyday, so what can you do?  People in Biol 234(genetics) have told me horrible things, and these are people that do very well in other more difficult courses…this has led me to believe that all “biology program” courses are just not for people who want great grades.  Like Chem 233, I can see how people get 90+ on midterms and finals, I felt really good about the final.  But Biol 204..Biol 234, those courses…  This has led me to my decision on GETTING OUT of the Biology program before I completely destroy my average.  Im greatful I didn’t take Biol 234 or 23o this semester, now that I think about it Biol 121(my other worst grade) was very similar to Biol 204, so this is a wakeup call.  I plan to switch to Combined Major: Microbiology&Immunology & Computer Science, since I planned on doing the CS minor to begin with, and I’m better at Bio112/Microbio kind of Bio, and not Bio121/Biol204 kind of Bio.  Rearranging my schedule to match my new major now.  Will post my new schedule soon!  🙂

Happy Holidays everyone.