Certainty

So there was an uncertainty I had in regards to my UBC online courses from this fall. Because I got my exams deferred, I did not know when I would be writing them. I did not even know if I would be able to write them by June 1st in order to have them included in my GPA for UBC in 2016. Well it turns out that the latest I will be writing them is in April. They say that I'm guaranteed to write the final in April, but if the professor is open to the student writing it earlier, then they are allowed to do that, but they do not have to provide that option. So I've spoken with one of my professors and he said I can simply write it in his office at UBC whenever I please. This is great news because the more flexible my professors are, the better. For my other two UBC classes I'm not quite sure when I will be writing the exams.

I also got a mark back for a sizable paper I wrote in my health psychology class and I got a respectable 80% on it. This means that I will get a minimum of 85% in the course if I ace the final. The final is totally multiple choice and very simply based on the textbook. If I can memorize the details of the text, then I should get quite a high mark. I actually have a new method for developing textbook summary notes that my biopsych professor showed me. The method is called the 'Cornell Method'. My old biosych prof has very high praise for this method, and I'll be testing it out for some, and possibly all of my classes because he speaks so highly of it and I trust him so much. If I find that this method substantially improves my studying efficiency, then I will post more about this method, but for anyone interested there are a lot of explanations if you google it. I reached out to my professor for advice because we are somewhat close because we've both had mental health problems and he is a very helping person in general so I always feel that I can ask him for some help. Not to mention he is an extremely accomplished and intelligent individual, both academically and non-academically.

Now that I have a new method for studying textbooks, it is making me feel a lot better about my abnormal psychology class because I was getting bogged down by the text and wasn't very efficient in general. Now I'm feeling a lot more confident that I will synthesize the information efficiently. This is so important for me now because all of my classes will be online, so the textbook and other materials will be so crucial for me to learn the material and get high marks.

I woke up quite early today and I'm really feeling like it's time to buckle down. I've had a long day today and I'm looking to continue my momentum and take it day by day. I really feel like my old self again where I had the right mindset and attitude and the right work ethic. What I mean by mindset and attitude and work ethic is that when I was finishing up high school I was so concerned with my coursework that I genuinely was interested in all of the concepts I was learning. Every time there was a new concept I felt excited to learn it and master it and apply it come test day. It was sort of like that my open-mindedness of thinking that "I can be successful in learning this material" was how the ball initially got rolling. Then my work ethic kicked in and I would do homework for hours on end, only taking breaks to eat and exercise. Then naturally the course material came to me if I had the right attitude and put in the proper work. The marks followed as well. Back then I was falling short of 95s and 100s instead of 80s and 85s like I do now. Of course everyone says university is harder than high school, and generally speaking it is for one main reason, the pace of the courses. I mean in sciences most of the curriculum for grade 11/12 courses here in BC are the same as in 1st year science. In most classes the concepts aren't hard, but it is just doing the work at a quicker pace. Anyways my TRU exams are likely going to be scheduled for January 16th and maybe January 17th. I still have to cover a lot of material but if I condense my schedule into 9-12 hour days like how I used to study for exams, then I know I will be successful. I have to keep in mind that the hardest part is studying. Taking the exam itself is just the easy part if you are well prepared. I have until January 7th to submit all of my assignments. I will have to take at least two days off for Christmas Eve and Christmas. I know that if I really had to, I could complete all of my assignments even I started on January 1st, because I've already completed some of the course. But I don't want to leave it down to that. I want to put the work in from now until December 23rd. Take a couple days off, then get back at studying on Boxing day or on December 27th. If I do really well over the next week and put in 12 hour days, then the time from December 23rd until January 1st can be a bit more relaxed, where I can visit with family more and friends. I just looked at a calendar, and because I started my TRU courses so long ago, I've forgotten a lot of the stuff I read from before. So right now, my goal is to go through a unit per day. That would allow me to have read through the entire module and readings for both courses. Then all I would need to do is complete the assignments. I'm going to complete the assignments as best I can when I go through each unit. I'm going to start with chemistry. I'm hoping I'm not too rusty at a calculation based course. Although I think most of it is fairly simple. My goal tomorrow is to put in a 12 hour day. I'm going to try to put in a few hours tonight after I eat dinner too. For some reason I feel a bit of apprehension, but once I finish going through my first unit, I think that will go away. Kind of like being nervous before a big game. But just like a big game, I can't afford to screw this up, as my 2016 application is depending on it.

Once I'm done studying tomorrow night I'll post a quick update on how things went, how I feel about doing a 12 hour day, and if I think it is sustainable or if I even want to do that. I'm hoping it's all good news but I won't know until I've done it.


I should probably just think of this as being a stepping stone to becoming a physician/surgeon/scientist. And when I think of it like that, I start to feel pretty good about what I'm doing.