So this semester I'm also in an Englsh class and I've been working on that since I got back from New York. I've handed in a couple things and done a few quizzes and so far completed a portion of the class. The class is first year English and it is a paced online course (paced in that it has standard start and end dates with work to do progressively each week). I have 80% in the course so far, with one month down and two more to go. My progress in terms of my mark is marginally okay but my effort is all there. I just need to perform better and submit writing that is of higher quality. I have to write an essay this weekend and I'm hoping to hit it out of the park. If anyone who has excelled in English courses could comment any tips about writing high quality work - the type that gets you an A+, it would be much appreciated to myself and others who are struggling to get top marks in English. I'm actually going to google this exact thing this weekend as well. It's kind of funny I never looked it up. I've always had okay writing so I never bothered to improve it. But now I will need to so that I can get that 90% in my English course.
My New York trip was nothing short of incredible, so glad I went! I might post more about it later. But I'll definitely talk more later about what's on my mind right now, and that is my athletic pursuits and other courses! No outright excellent news - but rather just progress leading to me having more optimism. Talk soon and take care.
Thursday 29 September 2016
Monday 5 September 2016
How to Save Money on MCAT Books and Prep
So I recently came across an excellent way to save money on MCAT prep. I got the idea from the user "kbinners" on the premed101 forums and the idea is to ask your family members/friends/significant other to buy you Amazon gift cards to be used towards buying MCAT books for Christmas and birthdays (and other holidays) rather than a traditional gift they would normally get you. Or alternatively the friend or family member could simply buy the MCAT book for you themselves if that's possible for them. But in my family our gifts are usually around $50 CAD in value so buying the books outright isn't really an option. Also if the relationship is appropriate, you can ask the person to give you cash and tell them you would be using it for MCAT books. This obviously works better if a student is on a very tight budget, and if the student is buying the books used from somebody. Also if you're taking a prep course you can ask for cash too and just tell them it's for an MCAT course next summer or whatever.
I know for me personally, I don't really care for my gifts as it is usually stuff I don't need like clothes or other wearables like small jewelry or shoes or gift cards to restaurants. So to me this idea really really makes sense to me. And I never even thought of doing this! But I will most definitely be asking all of my relatives to either give me cash or Amazon gift cards this holiday season and for my birthday. I've always liked practical gifts and if practical is your thing too then I think this is the ultimate practical gift for today's premed student. Talk soon and take care.
I know for me personally, I don't really care for my gifts as it is usually stuff I don't need like clothes or other wearables like small jewelry or shoes or gift cards to restaurants. So to me this idea really really makes sense to me. And I never even thought of doing this! But I will most definitely be asking all of my relatives to either give me cash or Amazon gift cards this holiday season and for my birthday. I've always liked practical gifts and if practical is your thing too then I think this is the ultimate practical gift for today's premed student. Talk soon and take care.
Friday 2 September 2016
Promise to start posting grades again
So I haven't been able to finish any classes in the last year because of an emphasis on work and other activities. I realized it has been so long since I posted final grades in my courses. Some of these posts were my most viewed posts, so I can only assume that people love reading about this. I was planning on completing courses this fall anyways, but having a place to share my grades makes me feel really good, and if readers enjoy it as well then all the better. I can assure that I will have completed 7 courses by January 31st 2017. That is the deadline I'm working with. The reason is because I will forfeit an RESP payment if I don't complete 7 more courses by that deadline. I'll be finished biology 2 in 3 weeks and organic chem about 2.5 weeks after that. I would be done sooner but I'm heading on a trip to New York City next week for about 5 days, so that will slow me down because I won't be studying there. So I'm taking it one course at a time. As long as I'm finished 2 courses by early October, I'll be on track. I'm aware I've never worked at this pace successfully. But I know that I'm capable. I've been using a new study strategy I've learned about called Cornell Notes. I'll post about this method after I get my final mark in bio 2. It's been so far so good though. I'm definitely going to put in some serious work this weekend into my bio course. Think pre-final exam-type studying. Then I'll relax on Tuesday when I leave for NYC. But right now I'm just glad the weekend is here! Not sure how much I'll do today but Saturday and Sunday will be good days in terms of studying and completing bio 2. I'm hoping to be done 10% by Tuesday night, although this is just an estimate. I'll have a better idea by tomorrow night. For the North American readers working a 9-5 job, happy start of Labour Day weekend which is much needed!
Talk soon and take care.
Talk soon and take care.
Initial CARS Practice Results and Excellent Hospice Training Experience
So in my last post I mentioned I had a CARS tutoring session scheduled. Well me and my tutor weren't able to connect. But the bright side is I thought I did pretty well on the CARS practice! I didn't do a lot of practice at all, I only did 9 passages from EK's 101 Passages. And I actually ran out of time because I tried doing the same amount of CARS passages that would be on the MCAT in the prescribed time. So time was an issue, but the positive was I got a lot of questions right and I aced a few passages as well. I don't know what percentile I would've scored as I haven't calculated it yet but just knowing that for my practice so far, I'm able to answer most questions right, is very comforting to me because I was very concerned I would bomb any CARS practice because growing up I hated reading novels. I just couldn't understand them. I also reviewed the EK verbal book and it had so many good tips and made so much sense. And having the structure from the book was comforting too. But anyways I am VERY optimistic on CARS. I think I have the ability I just need to do less contemplating on questions and more "going with my gut". This will speed me up. I also have to do my best to understand the passages the first and hopefully only time I read them. Oh and before I marked my passages, I thought I bombed them. Like I had hardly any idea of what was right and wrong. My theory is that it feels that way because when we write science tests we feel so much certainty as to what is right or wrong, so something like CARS is much different, but not sure why haha.
Anyways, in sum, it appears I have a baseline level in CARS, but I still have to refine my CARS approach, finish reviewing the EK book, read a variety of things in the arts, and practice, practice, practice!
So I had a two day volunteer training session at the hospice this week. The experience was so awesome! I learned so much and the group was wonderful. It was so moving hearing everyone's stories as we all brought our own perspectives to the non traditional group learning format of the training. We had to schedule a "training exit interview" as well to determine where we want to volunteer, and I had mine today. I expressed my interest in joining the hospital team that visits palliatative patients there at the hospital, as there are lots of different role opportunities through this hospice society, but the hospital is what interests me the most. Well the coordinator agreed and though I can't remember her words she was clear that I would be excellent in that role. It was very nice to hear that because I could tell it was not just lip service, but rather she recognized that my skill set overlaps with what is required to be successful in that particular role in that hospital environment. (And I just realized now that I should mention that this hospice is offsite from the local hospital, so that is why there is a special hospital team that goes there. Most other volunteers volunteer away from the hospital at the hospice building itself). But anyways the hospice training experience overall so far was quite incredible and it will no doubt be a great piece to the puzzle.
But the training isn't over yet, as to work in 1on1 situations with the hospice it is required that a volunteer does further training to the tune of 1 day per week for seven weeks at 5 hours per day. Only then after that will I be able to start my clinical volunteering. That further training doesn't start until October but I am able to work in non clinical roles, such as reception, until my training is over. I may or may not do that. Haven't decided yet. But I will certainly do the further training and start doing clinical volunteering after.
All this positivity to report, and I haven't even mentioned the best part yet! I met the most incredible person at the hospice training. I can't go into more detail right now because I'm on my iPad in bed and I have way too much to write about her and I should be getting to sleep. I know what you might be thinking and no it is not a potential partner or a female I'm attracted to. It's something else. I'll devote a post to it later because it is just that special. Speaking of which, I forgot to ever write that post about my most favourite class ever that I was in last summer, Psyc 304 at UBC. I'll post on that too. But for now I'll hit the hay! Talk soon and take care.
Anyways, in sum, it appears I have a baseline level in CARS, but I still have to refine my CARS approach, finish reviewing the EK book, read a variety of things in the arts, and practice, practice, practice!
So I had a two day volunteer training session at the hospice this week. The experience was so awesome! I learned so much and the group was wonderful. It was so moving hearing everyone's stories as we all brought our own perspectives to the non traditional group learning format of the training. We had to schedule a "training exit interview" as well to determine where we want to volunteer, and I had mine today. I expressed my interest in joining the hospital team that visits palliatative patients there at the hospital, as there are lots of different role opportunities through this hospice society, but the hospital is what interests me the most. Well the coordinator agreed and though I can't remember her words she was clear that I would be excellent in that role. It was very nice to hear that because I could tell it was not just lip service, but rather she recognized that my skill set overlaps with what is required to be successful in that particular role in that hospital environment. (And I just realized now that I should mention that this hospice is offsite from the local hospital, so that is why there is a special hospital team that goes there. Most other volunteers volunteer away from the hospital at the hospice building itself). But anyways the hospice training experience overall so far was quite incredible and it will no doubt be a great piece to the puzzle.
But the training isn't over yet, as to work in 1on1 situations with the hospice it is required that a volunteer does further training to the tune of 1 day per week for seven weeks at 5 hours per day. Only then after that will I be able to start my clinical volunteering. That further training doesn't start until October but I am able to work in non clinical roles, such as reception, until my training is over. I may or may not do that. Haven't decided yet. But I will certainly do the further training and start doing clinical volunteering after.
All this positivity to report, and I haven't even mentioned the best part yet! I met the most incredible person at the hospice training. I can't go into more detail right now because I'm on my iPad in bed and I have way too much to write about her and I should be getting to sleep. I know what you might be thinking and no it is not a potential partner or a female I'm attracted to. It's something else. I'll devote a post to it later because it is just that special. Speaking of which, I forgot to ever write that post about my most favourite class ever that I was in last summer, Psyc 304 at UBC. I'll post on that too. But for now I'll hit the hay! Talk soon and take care.
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