Hello!! If U Are Applying To Grad School (humanities Or STEM!) & U

Just some notes 📝📝📝 one more day until my break, I can’t wait!!!🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️

(DAY 9/100 OUT OF ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF PRODUCTIVITY)

The basics of Research Methods. There’s so much to learn in AS and more is added in the second year. In an exam you could be asked to state which hypothesis is being used in an example, which experimental method would be best for a situation, or to create your own research plan.

Instagram: bluelahe

as requested by quite a few people - a masterpost of educational podcasts. links go to either the site or the itunes podcast store. an excerpt of the description is included with each.

* indicates a podcast that i listen to regularly

entertainment

*welcome to night vale - twice-monthly updates for the small desert town of night vale

*muggle cast - everything harry potter

general information 

radiolab - investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea

*stuff you should know - about everything from genes to the galapagos

*stuff mom never told you - the business of being women 

tedtalks

good job, brain - part pub quiz show, part offbeat news

news

no one knows anything - the politics podcast from buzzfeed news

wait wait…don’t tell me - weekly current events quiz

college

*college info geek - the strategies and tactics the best students use

*getting in - your college admissions companion

math

math for primates - a couple of monkeys who decided that arguing about mathematics was a better use of their time than throwing poo at one another

math mutation - fun, interesting, or just plain weird corners of mathematics

science

60 second health - latest health and medical news

the naked scientists - interviews with top scientists, hands-on science experiments

60 second science - the most interesting developments in the world of science

startalk - astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe

nasa science cast - science behind discoveries on earth, the solar system, and beyond

history

*myths and legends - myths, legends, and folklore that have shaped cultures

stuff you missed in history class - the greatest and strangest stuff you missed

the podcast history of our world - from the big bang to the modern age! …eventually

witness - the story of our times told by the people who were there

the history chicks - two women. half the population. several thousands years of history.

entrepreneurship & finances

practical money matters - better managing their finances

the internet business mastery - learn how to create an internet based business

social triggers insider - the fields of psychology and human behavior

listen money matters - honest and uncensored, this is not your father’s boring finance show

writing & literature

professional book nerds - it’s our job to discuss books all day long

a way with words - words, language, and how we use them

grammar girl - short, friendly tips to improve your writing

classic poetry aloud - recordings of the greats poems of the past

language

esl (english) - improve english speaking and listening skills

language pod

coffee break

search in your podcast app for specific languages!

art

99% invisible - exploration of the process and power of design

tips and tricks photography 

the arts roundtable

hobbies & other

stash & burn (knitting)

practical defense - staying safe in our increasingly dangerous urban environments

zen and the art of triathlon - a triathlete’s view on living the multisport life

the art of charm - make you a better networker, connecter, and thinker

the indoor kids - isn’t just about video games, isn’t not about video games

rationally speaking - explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense

the dice tower - board games, card games, and the people who design and play them

motivational & inspirational

back to work - productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more

personal growth podcast - classic and contemporary self development audio

what it takes - conversations with towering figures in almost every field

here be monsters - exploring the dark corners of the human mind

on being - the big questions of meaning with scientists, theologians, artists, teachers

Where do you recommend getting textbooks from? (renting, buying, online etc)

well textbook companies are evil and sometimes you have no choice but to buy a textbook new, but for other times where that’s not the case i’d recommend you check out slugbooks! ^_^ they compare a bunch of different sites selling the textbook you need so you can find it at the cheapest price :) it’s like the kayak of academia lol!

Psychology is crazy overwhelming but so interesting. I wish I could major in such a fascinating field but I need something that I can obtain more connection and success with. This is one of the subjects where my motivation and organization skills are on point, I hope I can feel this passion with other subjects. (IG POST) 

Don’t Let Calculus D(e)rive You Mad

I was always one of those people who thought some people were naturally good at math and if I wasn’t one of those people then there was nothing I could do about it. I thought I wasn’t “a math person” and would use that description as an excuse. Is math one of my weaker subjects? Sure but that’s mostly because I let years of bad habits get in the way of my current work. This caught up to me in my first semester of calculus (calc I) at university, where calculus was my worst class. Here’s the thing: if you’re not “a math person” make yourself one. In my second semester of calculus (calc II) I improved my mark by an entire letter grade (something I never thought possible). How? Through hard work and by understanding that I would have to work harder than some people because of my past study habits.

Know your pre-calculus well! You will struggle so much if you forget the basics. My prof said not having a good grasp of the basics is the number one reason why students will struggle with calculus. Invest time before/at the beginning of the semester to really review the stuff you learned in high school. (Khan Academy is the best way to review, in my opinion. They have challenge questions you can do for each section. Try a couple of questions for each section. If you can’t answer the question easily, watch the accompanying videos for that section first. Do this for sections you forget or know you struggle with.) Be confident in your basic mental math too, especially under pressure. I wasn’t allowed a calculator on any of my midterms or finals for calc and you don’t want to waste time on easy math that you should know lightning fast anyway.

Attend every lecture, especially if you’re even slightly confused. If you’re behind, try not to get even more behind by skipping class (obviously use your own judgement, but don’t skip unless it’s totally necessary). Don’t sit near the back of the class if you know you won’t pay attention.

Don’t just sit there and copy down notes. Be attentive in class and follow along with examples the best you can. If you get lost at a certain step in a problem put a star beside it. After class, study and attempt the problem on your own. If you still don’t understand, go to a TA or prof for help. They will be able to provide better help if they can see exactly where you got lost.

Keep your notes simple. I would use either blue or black pen for the majority of my notes and use one other colour to emphasize parts of my notes (indicate where I got lost, circle important follows, highlight which section of the textbook the class was at, etc.) Keep your notes neat and leave a gap, if you fall behind during a lecture (just remember to get the notes from someone else later). I also recommend using a grid paper notebook, for when you need to draw graphs.

Get a mini notebook! I bought a tiny notebook for cheap and filled it with a (very) condensed version of my notes, throughout the semester. I wrote down common derivatives and integrals, shapes of common graphs, important theorems and formulas, etc. This is especially helpful for calc II, because you’ll have all the necessities from calc I handy.

Advice for using Maple for math labs (if this applies to you): Pay attention to tutorials and ask questions. Complete as many assignment questions as you can in the lab/when a TA is present. If you have any other assignment questions to finish up make sure you work on them at least a few days before they’re due, so you have time to ask for help if you need it. Also, Maple can be a stupid program. You could be missing just one number, letter, or symbol and it won’t work. Or you could have it exactly right and it still won’t work (retyping your input in a new worksheet usually helps). To remedy these issues, I would work on assignments with friends and compare what our worksheets looked like. Oh and TAs love if you give your variables funny names or change the colours of your graph, because they’re all nerds (and so are you, so embrace it).

Do as many practice problems as you can. Calculus is a class where you learn by doing. Do questions till you understand the concept. If problems are recommended, treat them as if they’re actually due (otherwise you’ll just tell yourself you didn’t have enough time to do any practice problems). My number one mistake was not doing enough practice problems and just assuming I knew how to answer the problem (if you can’t answer the entire question from start to finish, then you don’t actually understand the concept).

Please don’t fall behind. Stay on top of things and prioritize what needs to be done (i.e. treat practice problems from the chapter you just learned on equal footing with the lab report you have due – if you treat it as a priority, you will get it done). But, if you do fall really behind, don’t wait until it’s too late to ask for help. Just remember, there’s always something you can do (even if you feel like you don’t know anything and there’s not enough time for any practice problems before your midterm). Identify what you need to learn before you can do anything else (i.e. work on understanding basic integration before you try to do something more complicated like trigonometric substitution) and fit in as many practice questions as you can.

Don’t give up! If you don’t understand a concept right away you just have to keep trying! For practice problems, try to find an answer without looking at your notes. If you can’t figure it out from there, look in your lecture notes and textbook for any relevant formulas, examples, or similar questions. Try to answer the problem again. If you get it, be sure to fully complete another practice problem without any outside references. If you can’t figure out an answer then you should seek help from another person!

Don’t forget everything you learned at the beginning of the semester – review, review, review! Check out this explanation on the curve of forgetting. If you continually review what you learned, for only short periods of time, you will remember so much more and save yourself time in the end!

Utilize the resources available to you. I have a list of online resources at the end of this post, but don’t overlook what’s right in front of you. Go to your prof’s office hours, ask a TA for help, and take advantage of any tutoring or study groups. My uni has a math and science centre where upper year students are always available to help other students with practice problems. If you join a course union, they sometimes offer free tutoring.

Study in a productive environment. This varies by person but personally I need a quiet environment, with ideally no noise or only instrumental music, bright/natural lighting, and nothing to distract me (I hide my phone and only have one pen or pencil out). If you like to listen to music when you study, math is one of those subjects where you can listen to music with words.

Improve your test-taking skills. (1) On an exam, understanding a concept is no use if it takes you forever answer the question. Do lots of practice problems till you immediately know how to answer any kind of question. Speed can be key on exams. (2) My strategy is to flip through the exam booklet as I get it. I answer the questions I can do easily, first, and leave the really difficult ones till the end. (3) Show all of your work! Don’t lose marks because you didn’t show all of your work. (4) Expect your exams to be challenging and prepare accordingly. Overlearn the material. Prepare specifically for the exam by completing past exams/practice exams in an environment that mimics the test-taking environment.

Get every mark you can, because the little marks make a big difference. If you don’t know how to answer a question on an exam, write down any formula or theorem that could relevant. If you try to figure out a solution and know that it’s most likely incorrect, but don’t have enough time/knowledge to find the correct answer, just leave your work there (don’t erase it). There’s always a chance you could be on the right track or nice markers will give you a point or two for trying. Something is always better than nothing.

Focus on the applications of calculus (it’ll make the semester a whole lot more interesting)! A physics major won’t necessarily use calculus the same way a bio or chem major might, but that doesn’t mean some calculus isn’t useful for all of those majors to know. I’ve always planned to major in biology and looking ahead at classes I will need calculus for biostatistics and genetics classes. Never tell yourself something isn’t useful because then you’ll never treat it like it’s useful. Also, my prof taught a whole lecture about how calculus could be used to account for all the variables that could affect population if a zombie apocalypse ever happened, so obviously calculus has at least one really important use :)

Resources

A bit of advice: These are called resources for a reason. It’s okay once in a while to use some of the resources to find a full solution for a practice problem, but don’t abuse it. It is so so easy to just look up the answer but you’re only hurting yourself in the end.

Desmos (Online graphing calculator - I’ve made it through so far without actually buying a graphing calculator)

Khan Academy (Step by step videos and practice questions! You can go your own speed with the videos! My top recommendation!!!)

Paul’s Online Math Notes (If your prof doesn’t provide you with decent lecture notes, these ones are great!)

Symbolab (They have a calculator for derivatives, integrals, series, etc. and I like the way they split up the steps to solve.)

Slader (find your textbook on here and they’ll give you all the solutions to questions!)

Textbooks: I used the Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals (8th edition, by James Stewart) and it was awesome. The way it was set up and all the examples really helped me (I just wish I had used it more)

This post by @quantumheels is seriously fantastic (and she has lots of good advice for other topics too, one of my favourite blogs)

My Other Posts:

AP lit tips, high school biology, how to ace intro psych, organization tips, physics doesn’t have to suck: how to enjoy and do well in your required physics classes, recommended reads, reminders for myself, using your time wisely on public transport, what i learned from university (first year), what i learned from high school

behavioural and emotional patterns of living in abuse:

you spend most of your time shut in your room

you’re scared of footsteps approaching your door

you prefer not to come out unless there’s nobody home

when they come back you run to your room/safe place

you’re nervous and anxious if you have to spend time in presence of others

you try to get away from your home, you wish you could live somewhere else

your self-confidence is very low

you worry about making too much noise (have a feeling you’ll get yellet at or abused for it)

you try to move around as silently as possible and try to not be noticed by anyone

you feel uncomfortable and uneasy sitting at the same table as rest of family/housemates

you don’t feel like you belong here

you feel like a burden to your housemates

you don’t feel like you’re worth having around or supporting in any way

you don’t feel like anyone will ever love you or believe in you

you don’t feel like anything you do is good enough

you can’t stand someone watching you do things like cleaning or anything else you need to get done

you try really hard to still find good points about your life and cling to them

you strongly worry that you are somehow worse than anyone else

you feel like you’re behind on everyone and that you’re failing to live your life properly

you don’t feel like anything would have changed if you died, or even that it would be better if you did

if you’re experiencing most of this, you’re going through abuse. Your value isn’t in any way less than other humans, and you are absolutely not any kind of burden. You are human who is forced to live in a way humans aren’t meant to live. You are in living conditions that disable you from feeling happy, fulfilled, or even seeing yourself as a human being.  You are suffering. What is being done to you is not okay. You deserve better than this.

TRIG REVIEW #2: IDENTITIES, EQUATIONS, & POLAR GRAPHS

So this trig review is going to be about trig identities, how to solve trig equations & oblique triangle problems, and last but not least, polar graphs.

Trig Identities: You have to know these identities (except half-angle and sum/difference). Also the bottom two are necessary for solving trig integrals, so memorize those!

Trig Equations: Here are various example problems showing how to solve trig equations.

Oblique Triangle Equations: You only have to know the equilateral equation for area of cross sections in Calc BC. The rest is just extra info. that is nonetheless helpful to know. (:

Polar Coordinate:

Polar Graphs: Memorize these trig graphs for finding polar area! (All graphs come from Wolfram Alpha)

And that’s basically all the trig you need to know for Calc BC. Good luck! If you haven’t seen my part 1 post, you can find it here.

14/03/19 - Some more technology notes and diagrams. A slow but productive day today!