Post-Secondary Ramblings

With the sudden subarctic temperatures hitting the Lower Mainland, we finally have our winter. And thanks to that, I’ve caught the sniffles. I woke up in bed this morning with a sore throat and was faced with a dilemma.

Should I even bother waking up and going to my 8AM class?

I was sick, but not sick enough to spend the stay at home. Just a sore throat and nasal congestion. The worst kind of sick, and it was partly my fault for not dressing warmly enough the past few days. In the end, I did drag myself out of bed, pop some pills and head to school. I was definitely not my normal self though, and it was a terribly long day.

How sick do you have to be before you deem yourself too sick for school?

I’m dreading the thought of having to wake up early tomorrow and go to school. One week of Reading Break was definitely not enough for me. How did I spend my Reading Break? As the title suggests, I spent it on catching up on work and taking a much needed break.

I really did take full advantage of this break. Coincidentally, Saturday was the Olympic Anniversary celebration, and thus I spent the day (and night) in Downtown/Yaletown. The next few days were rather fuzzy. I do remember spending at least 2 full days watching TV shows/movies on my laptop though. Another day was spent catching up with my high school friends during a lunch outing. Last but not least, I spent not just one, but two days up on the mountains snowboarding. Snow conditions were amazing and I look forward to another day up there.

Now that I think about it, the numbers don’t really add up as I do remember spending a lot of time studying. Maybe I didn’t do as much “reading” as I thought I did. I did however do 2 weeks worth of suggested problems for math and a bunch of chemistry practice problems. Of course, Starbucks having their Tazo Tea Time promotion definitely helped me.

And to end off my break, well, I’m going to be spending my afternoon/evening/night reading for pleasure (:

I noticed that there is a shortage of posts recently, and that’s understandable. It’s midterm season yay! A friend once told me that the time to take a break is when you don’t have time for it. I thought it was really true, and it has stuck with me ever since. Here I am, taking a break from studying for my Chem121 midterm in approximately 3 hours to write up this blog entry. I guess the most logical thing for me to talk about right now would be study tips, so here are a few that I have discovered!

Things that I found really useful while studying:

1. Make a cheat sheet for every exam whether you’re allowed to use it or not. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one out there who isn’t caught up with readings. What I found was that making the cheat sheet forced me to actually go through the material, or at least skim it. It was really good review and I picked out a lot of facts that I missed, which coincidentally happened to be on the midterm.

2. If you’re not good at focusing, head into a library where everyone else is studying. Chances are, when you see other people around you working hard, you’d start working hard too. If you like to study in a group, know which friends you will be productive with and resist the temptation to meet up with those who distract you. Those who know me will know that I am very easily distracted.  However, just by merely sitting in the Bookstacks and noticing that everyone was busy studying, I felt compelled to study too, and ended up studying for 5 hours at times.

3. Just because you’re not a Sauder student doesn’t mean you can’t study in their building. One of my favourite places to study is ironically the BCom lounge at the back of the Henry Angus. In fact, I’m actually sitting there right now. Those who like to work with laptops and find trouble finding an outlet need to worry no more! There are plugs galore in the lounge and I’ve always been able to find a seat here. Sure, I had a few weird looks when I took out my Science notes, but that’s about it. Sauder students are paying $500 each for this building, you can experience it for free.

And finally,

4. Take time to get out and have fun! Yes, I have two midterms this week and homework and other stuff in my life, but that didn’t stop me from playing Ultimate and attending not one, but two Thanksgiving dinners. Chances are, if you’re just going to do nothing but study, you’re going to burn out, and even if you aren’t, your studying won’t be as efficient. Take that much needed break and come back to your studying feeling all refreshed. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Good luck with midterms everyone!