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

[ishq]

at least unsw, usyd, macq have grass.

 

[lala2]

Hey, my biology demonstrator was comforting us today by telling us how there are many people who will do worse than you do, even if you feel you went crap. She's quite laid back and relaxed and it's not that I distrust what she said, but in your experiences, has this been the case when you thought you did badly but it ended up everyone else did worse than you and so you were ok?

And USYD atm has a very fuzzy definition of how to give out marks--my pharmacy lecturer was telling us how it's either set against a standard, which is HSC-style, or they scale you?! I'm really scared that if it's the latter, that I might do my personal best but it will be relatively crap compared to anyone else. Does anyone know the answer to this? Or have experiences from past years?

 

[Templar]

Generally it will be alright, there will always be people with lower marks than you, although I don't trust people from bio. Unless you are aiming for a HD average, just relax (actually, it's practically impossible to get HD in pharmacy).

There is a combination of marking to a standard and scaling in effect, although considering you're doing mostly normal subjects, it's pretty much just your raw marks.

 

[lala2]

Haha, thanks Templar! No, I'm not aiming for HD--I'm really just aiming for a pass atm, especially after I found out they abolished concessional passes last year. But yeah, I was just worried I might be disadvantaged by the standard of the competition around me. If it's my raw marks, I should be aiming for a pass quite readily though I'm not gonna even think about credit.

 

[Templar]

In general if you get a raw pass it will not be scaled down to fail.

 

[lala2]

Haha, it's that time of year again...exams! I'm feeling so demotivated... probably because I got an HD in my major assignment in pharmacy worth 40%, so I'm guaranteed a pass as the exam is only 20%. but chemistry is up first, and worth the most at 75% ... and I still haven't started studying for it...Monday...dammit! :mad1:

Any tips on getting motivated guys? I just haven't been motivated since the HSC ended....is this perfectly normal?

 

[frootloop]

Haha, it's that time of year again...exams! I'm feeling so demotivated... probably because I got an HD in my major assignment in pharmacy worth 40%, so I'm guaranteed a pass as the exam is only 20%. but chemistry is up first, and worth the most at 75% ... and I still haven't started studying for it...Monday...dammit! :mad1:

Any tips on getting motivated guys? I just haven't been motivated since the HSC ended....is this perfectly normal?

OMG congrats on your HD! I got one too! *high five* (Personally, I thought mine was pretty s-h-i-t-e but I shouldn't be complaining... )

Pharm exam... don't you hate that we still NEED to pass it even though it's only 20%? GRRR!!!

CHEM. c.h.e.m. How I loathe it. I've been trying to study for it but it's so haaaaaaard... too many friggin reactions to memorise!!! My 'study' has been so unproductive and I've taken a couple of days off and done nothing when I should've been studying! Still a long way to go. Soooo glad I only need to pass... why couldn't the chem exam be LAST? Why did the Chem exam have to be first???

I still feel as though I'm recovering from the HSC. I can't believe it's been almost a year since it finished. I think it's perfectly normal to feel unmotivated after the HSC. I certainly feel as though I put everything into the HSC expecting that if I proved myself by doing well then that was it. Nothing else would matter...

And now... cramming for exams. Grrrrrrr!!!!

I know this probably wasn't very helpful but at least you know that you're not alone.

Next semester I might actually do all the tute work, make sure I understand the lectures and study regularly (not just when there's a quiz the next day). I don't want to end up cramming again at the end of semester like I am now.

 

[lala2]

Hey frootloop!

Thanks for making me feel better--yeah, you've basically summed up how demotivated I feel, and my sentiments about both pharmacy AND chemistry! And yeah, high five! for HD's in pharmacy assignments! (thought mine was pretty crappy too, finished it at midnight Sunday night! )

 

[seremify007]

I'm not surprised if first year has highest drop out rate... it's like small businesses and marriage- the longer you're into it, the more likely you'll last all the way I suppose?

 

[seremify007]

My marks so far havn't been the most heartening:
Acct1501
24.5/60
24.5/40
Infs1603
10/20
20.5/40

..but it's too soon to gauge, it'l take a while for us to adjust to the study regieme at University.

We got the same mark for prac set quiz

 

[goan_crazy]

Well I can't fully rate my first year yet
havent even finished my first semester
but yes there are subjects I don't like and it is definitely alot more work than school. I wouldn't say its the hardest though
Next semester will be even harder. The foundations of law kicks in...
This one was business subjects (a few of them which I didnt like such as economics and accounting)
Eco exam next friday

 

[lala2]

Yeah, I guess it takes a while to get used to the rhythm of uni study, especially first semester. Thanks for your input!

 

[frootloop]

lala2 is the chem exam just short answer?

are there any m/c questions? In the past papers it says "the total score for this paper is 100" but the short answer section only has about 75 marks allocated to it. But WebCT says that the final exam is just a "short answer written paper". The page where you can dowload the past papers says something like m/c questions cannot be released or something...

So confused. Please let there be m/c questions. I prabably won't pass otherwise.

I should've looked into this sooner and I'm too embarrassed to ask on the discussion board on WebCT about the structure of the exam when we'll be doing it in a day and a half.

 

[sikeveo]

our mc was so hard and the paper was out of 200! remind me to never pick advanced courses.

 

[volition]

I reckon heaps of commerce people will drop out after first year, we started with something like 1000 kids here at UNSW.

 

[frootloop]

our mc was so hard and the paper was out of 200! remind me to never pick advanced courses.

I could've been doing an advanced UoS this semester... but why bother? at the end of your degree you get the same as everybody else regardless of whether you got all HDs or all Ps... and regardless of the units of study you chose. The diploma is the same. (Don't quote me on this though... this is just what I've been told)

I suppose if you're aiming for honours then having done an advanced course may help but I'm not particularly aiming for honours. If you're really competitive then doing more challenging UoS's might be for you but I just want to pass, damnit. If I manage a credit or above along the way then that's great. But right now a pass is just fine.


yeah, m/c can suck but at least there's some chance of getting marks. Short answer's OK when you can bs your way through it but I don't think you can really bs with chemistry. The reaction either happens or it doesn't, the structure of this compound is either this or not. It's like maths- there's only a right and wrong answer...

back to studying.

 

[sikeveo]

True, good luck Better get back to bio/maths

 

[seremify007]

I reckon heaps of commerce people will drop out after first year, we started with something like 1000 kids here at UNSW.

I think so too.

What surprises me is... this course has always been for 90+ UAI students (local-wise CSP anyway), but yet I'm on a 97 and studied Eco/Biz before... and am finding Commerce bloody challenging at times.

 

[lala2]

lala2 is the chem exam just short answer?

are there any m/c questions? In the past papers it says "the total score for this paper is 100" but the short answer section only has about 75 marks allocated to it. But WebCT says that the final exam is just a "short answer written paper". The page where you can dowload the past papers says something like m/c questions cannot be released or something...

So confused. Please let there be m/c questions. I prabably won't pass otherwise.

I should've looked into this sooner and I'm too embarrassed to ask on the discussion board on WebCT about the structure of the exam when we'll be doing it in a day and a half.

Now that I think about it...I dunno?! Maybe. Otherwise the quizzes were practically pointless, since they said the quizzes provide a model for the m/c part of the exam (I think, don't quote me on it). yeah, better get back to studying, haven't started anything else and am relying on what little I picked up during semester to sustain me for the other three exams.

 

[sikeveo]

I think so too.

What surprises me is... this course has always been for 90+ UAI students (local-wise CSP anyway), but yet I'm on a 97 and studied Eco/Biz before... and am finding Commerce bloody challenging at times.

shows how different school is to uni.