First year meant to be the hardest? (2 Viewers)

[sikeveo]

Whoa, the eternal blackjack is back.

 

[sikeveo]

dimzi: I agree about the transport bit. I take 45 minutes each way and this is if the buses are good at Railway Square (City Road, that is, since PArramatta Road is never an issue). If bad, one hour. 10 hours of travelling a week + 26 contact hours = 36 hours, which is roughly equivalent to hours spent away from the house during school time (we have 7 hours a day, and with nice regular lunchtimes and morning tea times and nicely regular 1 hour free periods, unlike uni...grrr).

Last time, a 10 minute train ride + 10 minute walk from station did the trick for school.

But I can only say I'm glad enough I live just far enough to do some decent work on the train, but not far enough to make travelling a really, really big issue. Some people I know travel 2 hours each way and still live in Sydney!

Yes I have that same problem, since i live pretty close to you. But im used to it from going to school.

But travelling still sucks.

 

[BlackJack]

Whoa, the eternal blackjack is back.

Huh.
I can't sleep yet, been sketching.. so decided to pop in once. Really just seeing how sketches look on avatars.

 

[avant]

First year wrecked me absolutely--after coasting through VCE I found that all of a sudden I could not slack through classes any mor, at least not in law, where cases fly thick and fast, and research is quite demanding (especially after the spoonfeeding of high school).

I found the pace unsettling and I simply could not keep up with the work--I had about 200 pages of reading per week as well as a good deal of thinking/synthesizing to go through. As a consequence my marks were very erratic; some highs, and a lot of lows, including several near fails due to late penalties (they were resurrected to passes only by the subject coordinator. Whew.)

So I would say it's the hardest year. Second year has been much easier although there has been no real change in pace--I've just gotten used to it.

Of course, I was a slacker in high school. If you were a diligent VCE/HSC student (say, more than 15 or 20 hours of work a week), and if you're academically attuned (attend study skills sessions if that's your weak point), you should have no real trouble.

 

[lala2]

Wow, so the rumour about 50 pages of reading a night for law is semi-true! geez, 200 a week!

 

[lala2]

Now it's Easter! *phew* I've been asking around and the few people I have talked to (like about five people?) have all said they don't (or can't) study when they get home because they are just too tired to. Not a very accurate 'sample' of the pharmacy population (geez, stats), but I'm inclined to think this may be the case for a lot more people. What were your experiences? Did you find yourselves too tired to do anything except bum around at home? And also, I'm worried it could just be that I have had too long a break since the HSC ended.

 

[Templar]

When I bother to turn up to 8am lectures or stay up late I get too tired to bother with anything really, but it's not like I study a lot normally anyway.

 

[ladyknight]

So basically I've made adapting to uni a million times more difficult since I'm starting second semester???

 

[lala2]

I felt really guilty after just having met some girl who has three 8am lectures a week, and I only have one. But then that day involves no lunchtime, and goes till 5pm. But what do you guys think? Is uni life a state of permanent lethargy?

 

[sikeveo]

lol 5pm is good. I hate late classes.

I think everyone should stop whinging, and get back to working, or playing.

 

[Templar]

I felt really guilty after just having met some girl who has three 8am lectures a week, and I only have one. But then that day involves no lunchtime, and goes till 5pm.

I have 4 8am starts this semester, 5 last semester including a 8-6 day with no breaks.

 

[sarevok]

i would say first semester is the hardest.
dealing with the new lazzez-faire stlye of learning (easy to either over-study or under-study), social concerns - especially if you're a reticient person - transport, maybe getting a job if you didn't have one in high school, learning to put up with douchebags in your course and crap lecturers, wondering whether you've made the right choice of course, financial pressures...

when you finish high-school people always tell you that university is such an exciting experience, but first semester is hell for a lot of people. it gets better from then on - but slowly. second semester was for me far from fantastic but it wasn't bad either. it's only now that i'm second-year that i'm truly enjoying the uni experience, because i now feel fully adjusted to it...

 

[lala2]

I came back with a 3/10 on stats quiz (found out on WebCT today). Now we're meant to get the hard copy of the marked quiz back after Easter but I can't stop stressing about this. Is it normal to fail SOMETHING in one subject, even if you overall pass the subject? *tears hair out*

Am I doomed? It's really bad because uni is so...iffy. During the HSC, when I failed the one assessment I failed, I said ok, let's get my act back up for trials and the final HSC because I knew they were coming. But is it the same thing for uni?

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Pretty much. I'm selectively failing half of one of my courses because I couldn't care less about it (has nothing to do with the rest of my degree). So if you get like 100% in the calculus component of this course and like 30% in the statistics part you've still got 65% all up, which is sufficient to pass, move on, and forget about it.

 

[Pierotte]

Im sure this has already been said, but first year is NOT the hardest

Its simply the hardest to adjust to.

Competition, work load, commitment etc etc etc

Basically im not finding the stuff i enjoy hard.
When i enjoy a subject i enjoy spending ridiculous amounts of time on it.

But some the the irrelevant first year shit i have to go through is killing me.

Its probably easier than some of the other stuff im going fine in.. but...

Its hard because i dont like it.
Its hard because theres so much of it and i cant feign interest.
Its hard because everyone else seems to work on it regardless, but i dont,
because they are motivated, and im not..
and well for the first time in my life when i say "hahah im sooo going to fail this shit" .. im really not joking.

Sucks.

Now if I can only stick it out till third year.

 

[Templar]

I came back with a 3/10 on stats quiz (found out on WebCT today). Now we're meant to get the hard copy of the marked quiz back after Easter but I can't stop stressing about this. Is it normal to fail SOMETHING in one subject, even if you overall pass the subject? *tears hair out*

Am I doomed? It's really bad because uni is so...iffy. During the HSC, when I failed the one assessment I failed, I said ok, let's get my act back up for trials and the final HSC because I knew they were coming. But is it the same thing for uni?

Don't worry too much about it, I got 3/5 and 2.5/5 for my differential calculus quizes and still got a HD (although that was advanced).

However do be aware of the fact that pharmacy hands out totally crap marks. It's certainly a case of pass will do.

 

[lala2]

Oh ok, thank you Templar and Captain_Gh3y. Yes, I'm not aiming specifically for anything further than to pass, but it's not very encouraging seeing a 3/10. My aim this semester was just to put in as much effort as possible and see whether I can get anything further than a pass, just so that I know where I stand, but yes, the bottomline for me was to pass.

 

[Ranger Stacie]

I still maintain that anyone that catches public transport has it easy.

I drive ~50 minutes each way (haha, 2 hours if there is a frigging accident ), and so that is nearly 2 hours a day of dead time that I really cannot do anything, and I still have to be astute and concentrating on what I'm doing. With public transport, you can do a bit of work, readings, whatever, or even lay back and chill out for the time you're on the bus/train.

very easy to say, until you realise that the majority of your trip involves sharing a train with each carriage filled with hunter performing arts students singing, practising dance moves, playing friggen bongos, listening to recordings of themselves doing friggen opera singing, running up and down chasing each other, bashing eachother and god knows what else, making it extremely difficult to concentrate on uni work, so provided the train system is actually running on time thats 4 hours a day which is potentially wasted. On top of that is contending with sometimes constant delayed/cancelled trains, and trackwork, which never seems to stop and for me can equate to SEVEN hours per day travelling. I trained it for 2 years and even with hefty petrol prices i still prefer driving times 100.

 

[frootloop]

Oh ok, thank you Templar and Captain_Gh3y. Yes, I'm not aiming specifically for anything further than to pass, but it's not very encouraging seeing a 3/10. My aim this semester was just to put in as much effort as possible and see whether I can get anything further than a pass, just so that I know where I stand, but yes, the bottomline for me was to pass.

Yay, another Pharmacy student that's finding adjusting to uni difficult...

At uni it feels as though everyone is adjusting so well and that I'm the only one that's struggling. I haven't been doing my readings because I'm always so tired. I haven't been studying or writing notes or anything. I just never have time anymore.

Travelling to and from uni is horrible.

I did bugger all during year 12... watched TV like there was no tomorrow and was on the net all the time and bludged so much. I worked hard during trials and the HSC though.

It's just comforting knowing that I'm not the only one struggling. It's just there are so many very-abled people in our course that I feel as though I shouldn't bother anymore. I feel like I must be the stupidest person in the entire course and I'm so intimidated by everyone. I just can't compete... and I'm so scared of failing... something... anything... everything.

I feel as though I shouldn't be there.

 

[lala2]

yay, frootloop! I felt as though everyone was adjusting well, and they were all too smart, etc, but yay! a fellow pharmacy student! let's slog thruogh this together, shall we?