BEDA #17: Final year – expectations vs reality, and what I wish I could’ve know at the start

Okay, I’m currently writing this in a sleep deprived, caffeine and adrenaline high state, so I apologise if this makes no sense, and if any advice I give is not relevant to anyone other than myself.

Expectation

When I’d pictured my final year at University, it was always a stressful year. This is the year that really counted towards everything, and it was obviously going to be harder material than previous years, as we would have to use all the knowledge and information we’d gained during the course of our degree. It was also the year with much more freedom in picking how you wanted to focus your studies, and a chance to apply what we’d learnt to useful situations.

I’ve struggled at lot being at University. I never really suffered from homesickness, but university sickness as I would call it. I didn’t feel able to plant roots at uni, as it’s such a temporary part of my life. I longed for stability, routine and normality the whole of the first two years of my degree and it was something that I was never going to achieve whilst studying. The way my course works means that I can be set work with only a weeks’ notice to be handed in, which is okay if your lecturers plan ahead and communicate with each other, but in reality, I often ended up with four pieces of work due in a two day period. I was expecting third year to be more of the same, or to be even harder.

All this being said, I thought final year wouldn’t be so bad, for one reason, which was I would be done soon enough, and I could stick it. I wouldn’t miss University at all, and I’d barely miss the people because I hadn’t really made any close friends, just lots of people I didn’t mind spending time with. It was all going to be okay, because I would get an okay degree, live at home whilst studying for my postgrad, and get the routine and structure in my life that I wanted.

Reality

Whenever I’d heard people talk about what it was like to be a third year maths student, everyone said how hard it was academically. So I was rather surprised when actually, it wasn’t much of a step up in difficulty from my previous two years. It wasn’t a walk in a park, don’t get me wrong, but it no way was it to a point I couldn’t function as a normal human being as many third students seem to struggle to do. Whilst I had more choices this year, it wasn’t like I expected. I found that a lot of subjects that I’d previously enjoyed such as probability, were now so theoretical all the joy had been sucked out of them, and subjects that I’d found dull suddenly got interesting. If I could choose my modules again, I’d of picked almost completely different ones.

Life at university has still just been just as chaotic and unstructured, but I’ve definitely coped better. I was in good accommodation this year, and it made a world of difference, knowing that I could come back to a clean kitchen, and a well furbished room, and get an uninterrupted night of sleep. Although I was anxious that most of our continual assessment this year was going to be mini tests, and I’m not one for tests at all, they actually weren’t too bad, and when I came to the big exams, I was so much more prepared. For the coursework I had to hand in, our lecturers actually communicated, so that we didn’t have multiples due at the same time, and if we did, we were told further in advance.

One thing which I hadn’t put too much thought into was how much time sorting out my plans for next year would take. I mean I’d known for a very long time exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to study, and got all of the necessary work experience. Writing my application was stressful enough – trying to sum up everything about yourself in 47 lines of text, particularly when you’ve got as much experience and extra-curriculars as I do is a challenge. What I really hadn’t factored in was how much time it would take to prepare for an interview. There was so much I had to prepare to bring on the day, and so much research and reading I had to do, to make sure I didn’t look like an idiot, but also to impress.  Mixing weeks worth of preparation, whilst also trying to maintain a good degree average has to be one of my best accomplishments to date.

With regards to finishing, by the end, it wasn’t something I looked forward to as much as I thought as I would. I finally made a really good friend this year, and I know that I’m going to miss her a lot. When we got to our final few weeks, I think I realised how weird leaving was going to be. Whilst I was at school, there were all sorts of celebrations, and special things to prepare you for leaving, and to say your goodbyes. At University, it all just sort of fizzles out towards the end, and people just leave as and when there exams finish. I know we’ve got graduation to celebrate with, but it’ll be different as everyone will be busy with their families.

There’s a really odd feeling at university right now. I feel lucky that I’ve something to go on and do next year, when so many of my friends’ and course mates’ futures are so uncertain. It’s not however quite the security I imagined though. Although I’m going to be going to a local University, I could have placements an hour and a half plus away from home, meaning I’m going to have to move out again. It’s going to long hours, and lots of pressure, but I know it’s going to be worth it.

I’ll be honest; this year has been completely different from what I imagined it would be. I’m glad though. I’m getting to the point now, where I know all my hard week is going to be worth it, and it’s a relief.

Things I wished I’d known or done:

·         People who are good friends are not necessarily good housemates

·         Although first year doesn’t count towards your degree, it’s worth putting in the effort. You’re going to use the skills you learn for the rest of your degree, and it’s important to get into a good work routine.

·        Do not underestimate how important it is to keep your notes organised, or how much you’ll hate past you when you get to exam time and you haven’t.

·        Do not make friends with only one group of likeminded people, otherwise you might find yourself needing advice and support with no one able to help you.

·         Socialize and enjoy things outside of lectures as much as possible in your first two years, as there isn’t much time for doing that come third year.

·        Just because accommodation is cheap, does not mean it’s best. Sacrificing your happiness and health to save a few hundred pounds is not worth it.

·         Lecturers want you to do well, so ask them if you get stuck and they’ll be sure to help as much as they can.

·         Interview preparation is more important than the interview itself.

·         There is nothing wrong with going to see a counsellor if you need it – sometimes problems are too big for one person to deal with alone.

·         Never say no to free food/stuff.

·        It’s only three years of your life, so enjoy the freedom you have now, as you’ll look back in the future enviously at the opportunities you had.

For those of you in final year (I’m not sure if there are any others) – good luck. For those of you who’ll still be going next year, I hope something that I’ve written can be helpful to you :)

DFTBA

BEDA 7: OMG Bacon is going to kill us!!!! (or is it?)

So I asked for topic suggestions for what I could write about, and I decided to combine two of them. My favourite American stereotype - which happens to be all Americans are fat (in particular going into their over-consumption of bacon), and also to teach everyone something maths related. Also, I just thought I'd let you know that I've done research for this post (get me). So let it begin.

British 'newspapers' are particularly notorious for decreeing pretty much every food source is putting you at risk of death. In particular many of you I'm sure will have heard the Daily Mail cancer song, and if not here it is:

This is the article, which I'll be taking about, it's probably worth reading, but if you don't fancy taking the time to do so, I can summarize into two bullet points:

• Bacon increases your chances of getting cancer by over 20%
• Eat bacon, and you will die.

WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO EAT BACON?!

When you read the article through you panic. It's based on a study by The World Cancer Research Fund - that sounds like a credible source doesn't it?

After you've finished hyperventilating over the fact that this God given food source may result in death, and after you've contemplating whether a life without bacon, is a life worth living, the analytical and sceptical part of your mind might kick in. You've been eating bacon all your life, and so do most of the other people you know too. Most of them wont have got cancer - something fishy is going on here.

Now newspapers never outright lie about something. However they do very often misinterpret data. This right here is a massive case of misinterpretation. The article is correct in the sense, that yes, eating processed meats does increase your risk of getting cancer by 21%. But, here comes the important part - we need to find out what the initial risk of getting cancer is in the first place. A little bit of research, will lead you to find the initial risk of getting colorectal cancer (the one the study is based around) is 5 out of 100. A 21% increase gives us 6 out of 100 people. Or put another way, if 100 people eat bacon every day, 1 more will develop this form of cancer, so it makes absolutely no difference to 99 out of 100 people. It doesn't seem quite so scary now does it?

It's okay though, you'll probably think most people know not to take newspapers too seriously. The problem is, many people in fact do. I'm not sure how many of you will have heard about the MMR problems we had and our currently have in the UK, but I'll quickly explain. In 1998, a very poorly conducted study linking autism to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination, was reported in the press. It caused unprecedented widespread panic, and so many children weren't given this incredibly important jab. Now I wont go into too much detail about how vaccinations work, but there is a critical percentage of the population which needs to be vaccinated in order to prevent an outbreak. This percentage wasn't met, and as a result, many children have, and will still in the future feel the effects of this life changing illness, or die needlessly.

So who is to blame? Well, the study was a load of rubbish to begin with, so obviously they are partially responsible.  However the media, did not check the credibility of the information, and this was what resulted in the panic. So the media is just as dangerous as the threats which they publish.

The moral of this story - don't believe what you read in the newspapers, and get someone who knows what they're talking about to check things out.

This post is a little heavy going, so feel free to ask me any questions if there's anything you don't understand, or want to know more about.

To lighten the mood, here's a picture of my honorary niece (boyfriend's sister's daughter), at only a few hours old:

Needless to say, I'm going to be a doting Auntie!

DFTBA x

Thoughts from places: Keele University

Where has everyone gone? No one's posted in ages :( Don't worry, I know most of you have exams and deadlines, but come back soon? :) So on with my blog:

I found myself pondering what thought provoking and inspiring things that my University brings to mind. I thought for a very long time and got nowhere. So I looked at the many photos I'd taken to gain inspiration. Luckily James and I took a few photos only a couple of months ago!

When I think of my Univeristy, I think of this:

A big mass of concrete, in which one works hard, studies hard and parties hard. A metropolis, full of energy and stress. Lots of people. Many friends. Too much to do and too little time. Friendly but distant. A tool; a step in the staircase of life.

But that wasn't the story which most of my photos told. They painted a completely different picture. It's so easy to forget the true beauty which we have lying right on our doorsteps. So easy to get caught up in every day life. This is what I saw when I browsed through my photos:

I completely forget in day to day life, that infact my University is built on top of an old stately manor, has a massive woods and 9 lakes all on campus. These photos show beauty, richness and a peaceful place. I abuse the privilege that I have, by ignoring it and taking it for granted. The worst thing about it is that it's so easy.

How often do we do this in life? Get so caught up in who we are and where we're going that we're blinded and miss the beauty right in front of us. We live in a culture that is so privileged, we become immune. Immune to the simple gifts in life. The smell of freshly mown grass, the taste of home cooked meals and the cold side of the pillow on a hot summers night.

What I'm trying to say, is try and appreciate the good things you have already, rather than the things you used to have or don't have yet. 

Ali

How to survive revision/exam time

So, I was thinking to myself what I could write for freestyle week, and I was trying to work out what was going on with my life. Exams. That's what's going on. So I'm gonna give you a few hints and tips to get the study on!

Tidy room, tidy mind

When you're spending so much time, normally confined to one room whilst studying, having a messy room is not going to help at all! Even though you may not think, it's harder to concentrate when your in a messy/cluttered environment. I think that it's for two reasons. One, you probably don't feel as comfortable or at ease when your room is a tip, which is not going to help you at all. Two, it's a visual distraction. So try and stay on top of tidying/cleaning/laundry as much as possible.



Have breaks!


I know everyone always tells you to have breaks during revision, but it really is important. There's only so much your brain can handle! It's up to you how often you have them, and how long for, but I tend to go for 1 hour on, 15 minutes off (or sometime 2 hours on 30 minutes off), but it's about finding what's right for you.

Also, I would recommend having a separate room for studying/breaking if at all possible. This way you it stops you from being as tempted from checking facebook, watching a youtube video, or tumblring, if that's a bedroom thing, whilst your studying in the office say.

Work like clockwork


People always tell you it's important to wind down after a hard day of studying, which it is. Whether it's having a relaxing bath, reading a book or chilling in front on a tv, your brain needs a chance to process all the information you've bombarded it with, and slow down before attempting to sleep.

What people don't usually tell you is that you need to wind your brain up in the morning too. There's no way your brain's going to go from sleeping, to studying in an instant. Set yourself up for a good day by eating a nutritious breakfast (try and get both some fruit and protein in their is possible), have a shower and do something that gets you thinking, that isn't too hard (for example, I'll often have a go at a Sudoku puzzle, or play a brain training game). Trust me, your mind will thank you!


If it's all going wrong

Sometimes after yo're been revising for a while, your mind will just give up. It says "screw you", and then nothing will sink in. This just happens sometimes. You could go over the same paragraph over and over again and you wont understand a word of it. If this happens, just take 5 minutes out. Go and get yourself a drink, have a snack, go for a short walk. When you get to that point there's no use trying to push through out. It's a miracle what 5 minutes out can do.


Stay healthy!


Make sure you're getting your RDA's and if you struggle doing so take some vitamin/mineral tablets to give you a boost. Don't do caffeine. No seriously you might think it helps you in the short term, but it'll catch up with you already. Don't overdose on fatty/sugary foods because you'll end up feeling sluggish. Do some exercise, even if it's just a walk around the block, it'll get you heart pumping and also be a nice break from revision. Get plenty of sleep.






I'm not going to tell you not to cram


I'm not sure about all of your experiences, but whenever teachers told me revision techniques, they always told me not to cram the day of the exam. I disagree.
Don't get me wrong, I am not telling you to leave all your revision to the last minute, or infact that you have to go through your notes on the day of the exam. What I am saying is that it is okay to revise on the day of your exam if you want to. For me personally, I can memorize little chunks of information in the short term and by looking at my notes at the last minute can really help.
However this wont work for everyone. If you tend to get a lot of anxiety and tend to panic the day of an exam, I wouldn't recommend looking at your notes.


Okay, so that's it for my pearls of revision wisdom! Please take all of my tips with a pinch of salt however, as they are what works for me personally and different things work for different people.
I would encourage you to add any of your tips in the comments if you want :)

I hope everyones revision is going well, and good luck with exams! DFTBA!
Ali
xx

Warning: Contains cuteness!

Yo!
So a quick note, for anybody who doesn't check their pants :P There is a new facebook group for us, so we can stay in contact and stuff like that. If you could be so kind to take a quick ganders at our yourpants group to find details of it, that would be splendid :)

When I grow up
Can I refer you to this song to begin with:

Just to clear this up for you, I didn't/don't want to be any of the things in this song. Cos I aint superficial or shizz like that :D

So what did I really want to be when I was younger?
Good question!
This is something which I've had to really think about, and ask my parents for help with, as nothing was in my immediate memory. This is probably down to the fact that I've wanted to be pretty much the same thing since I was 11. A teacher.
So what did I want to be when I was little?

Yes I was freaking adorable.

A Ballerina. This never was destined for success. I didn't ever have the right figure. Short and podgy. When I had dance recitals when I was younger, the rest of my class would go left, and I would go right. The day my mum phoned up my teacher to say I didn't want lessons anymore, my dance teacher told her she was relieved, as she was just about to phone up my mum to say she didn't think dancing was suited to me.

A Vet. I have always loved animals. They're so cute. I was never allowed pets other than goldfish, but none the less I still wanted to be a vet. This was all until I watched some programme about the RSPCA, and the vets that work for them. They operated on a stray cat, which had worms everywhere inside them. I decided this was far to gross, and there was no way I could ever cope with it.

The only other thing I ever wanted to be was a minister. I was going to convert the masses! Then I realized I has nothing good to say, and that I was far to lazy to study my bible enough to ever achieve my goal of being a minister.



So yeah. That's about it really :)

On a side note, it appears that everyone, is either at the end of, middle of, beginning of or about to start exams, so good luck everyone and I hope it goes well :D

Salut!

The Resident Mathematician answers all!

Lots of questions! I feel popular :P
So lets get to it!

In keeping with the misconceptions trend on youtube at the moment: As a professional mathketeer (that’s the term, right?) what common math misconception (right?) annoys you the most (math?)?

There are far too many to choose from, so I'm going to pick my top 3 misconception:

1. Math.  I'm sorry but I may be about to go terribly British on you, but math annoys me. The word you are looking for is maths. Maths (the shortened version of mathematics) is a broad name for a group of subjects, hence the s. You cover a very wide range of subjects, from algebra, to calculus, operational research to statistics ( my personal favourite). So are we clear mathS.
2. Dividing by zero.
   This is not okay. Not by any measure. Just to clear this up once and for all, dividing by zero does not give you 1, the original number, zero, or infinity (usually). It is just wrong. It makes my skin crawl. My moto is, every time you divide by zero, God kills a kitten. Do you want that on your conscience? No, I thought not.
3. Every infinity is the same. To anybody who "thinks maths", this will seem obviously wrong. There are many different types of infinity. The infinite counting numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6....), infinite rational numbers (1, 1/2, 1/3, ... 2, 2 1/2...) the infinite irrational numbers ( such as Pi and square root 2) to name but a few.

What are the differences between math in school and math in university? What did you learn in university, that you didn't already cover in school?

I'm going to have to give you the British version of this, as I'm certain school maths varies from country to country. Okay so the major difference of school maths and University maths is that it becomes more abstract and also more applied at the same time. We have several modules at Uni that are entirely abstract, in the sense that you can't apply them to every day life. I struggle with these as I don't like being able to use them practically, but at the same time, they provide the foundation of everything we need to get anywhere. For the applied things, we have several things that are similar to physics, and also we cover statistics and operational research, the latter being very interesting. Do you ever wonder how sat-navs know the shortest route? It's all down to operational research.

What do you think of Vi Hart?

Good question. I've only recently started following her on youtube, so I don't really feel qualified to say much, but I'll give it my best shot. As someone who wants to go on to teach mathematics, I think it's really great that she gets people that aren't normally passionate about maths interested and thinking about the subject. That being said, as someone who works with and reads about maths daily, I have yet to find something she explains that I've not heard yet. So she's good, but I'm looking forward to the day when she explains something I've not yet come across.

I love you Ali <3 xxxxxxxxxxxxx (+1)

Just to clear this up for everybody, this isn't a secret love confession by a stranger. Or a question about maths. My boyfriend James follows the blog and decided to contribute. Thank you James, I love you too.

However, the (+1) has confused me slightly. This was added on afterwards. So the question is, is this meant to mean that it was my "+1" who wrote this, or has someone else confessed their love for me too?

Are you a mathmagician? You study maths and you're british.... DON'T LIE TO US!!

Yes. Yes I am. I don't have a cape of a magic wand, but I do have a bad sense of fashion and a scientific calculator, and I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!!!

On another note, whoever asked this, I love you forever!

So that's the end of this very long list of questions. I hope I have answered them satisfactorily :) Feel free to ask me more questions in the comments if you so wish.

Peace out