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March 29, 2024, 08:05:50 am

Author Topic: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal  (Read 10061 times)

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owidjaja

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2019, 12:02:01 pm »
+9
Sounds like everything is a but hectic atm. I'm not sure if this helps, but I found that as I went through the year I got better at using public transport time effectively, being confident in labs etc. once you get through this unit of maths you should be on a level playing field with everyone, right? I found maths to be my most challenging subject but also the one I learnt the most in - I hope it's similarly rewarding for you :)
I do hope uni does get better :) It is quite overwhelming since we literally got hit with a bunch of quizzes and homework sets to do, and on top of that, uni is very confusing and we kinda don't have too much time to make friends (i.e. get to know the people we're working with). And like you said, hopefully I won't be too disadvantaged in math once I finished this unit (that's if I pass the exams rip :/), but so far, I am finding the algebra fun and when I finally understand something from calculus, I do get a bit excited because it finally makes sense (thanks Rui haha).

Congratulations on 1000 posts!! :)
And thanks :D I guess I'm officially part of the furniture!
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

Caitlynk_22

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #16 on: February 25, 2019, 01:44:32 pm »
+5
Hi Olivia,

I love reading your uni journal, it actually makes me more excited to go uni next year. I can't wait to read your uni journal as I'll be in the same position next year (Albeit in a different uni and course) just to see what it's like and how everything goes.

I wish you all the best this year! I hope everything goes well and that you don't get too stressed. After all, uni is supposed to be a new chapter, an open door.

2018 - HSC - My HSC Journal 2018
2019 - Gap Year - Cert 3 @ TAFE My Gap Year Journal
2020 - 2022 B of Design (Architecture) @ UoN My University Journal

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #17 on: March 03, 2019, 11:48:26 pm »
+10
Hi Olivia,

I love reading your uni journal, it actually makes me more excited to go uni next year. I can't wait to read your uni journal as I'll be in the same position next year (Albeit in a different uni and course) just to see what it's like and how everything goes.

I wish you all the best this year! I hope everything goes well and that you don't get too stressed. After all, uni is supposed to be a new chapter, an open door.
(Omg I'm so sorry I didn't see this!)

Thanks for reading my journal! Hope you'll find uni fun :) I feel like the stress mainly comes from the pressure of having to re-take a subject if I fail on top of the fact that I keep getting told that my HSC marks isn't good enough for the courses I'm taking (not great for the self-esteem). I think the fun part about uni is the free stuff you get lol (we literally had a stand that was giving out free tacos on the first day of uni).



Hey guys,

So second week of uni is over and it's still as chaotic as usual. 6 quizzes from math, and 2 physics quizzes to do. I'm only annoyed with how the topics in the quizzes aren't even the topics we covered in the lectures, so technically we're teaching the content ourselves. While I'm annoyed with the quizzes, I'm doing surprisingly ok with the quizzes. But when it comes to understanding the content long-term wise, I'm not sure. On the other hand, I'm lost as usual with physics. Even in the workshop, it gets a bit confusing and my group is as lost me me. It also doesn't help that my lecturer/tutor (?) kinda roasted us during the workshop ;-; I also had my first physics lab and boy is it stressful. I had to re-calculate the uncertainty of the brass again and because I got confused, I was so close to spiralling into a panic attack. Honestly, I was so tempted to walk out of the room so no one will see me have a panic attack but then I realised that I would be wasting my time (since it's timed) so I kinda forced myself to stay there even though the demonstrator (and possibly the people at my table) could hear my voice get shaky.

As for ENGG, I finally met my group members. I was so worried that I would be with people who kinda slack off (and while I haven't seen them work yet) they seem really chill. Because there was an awkward gap between the technical lecture and the mentoring session, we hung out at the coffee shop in Ainsworth so we could get to know each other a bit better. I think we have a good mix of people. There are two people who have a bit of knowledge in computing (and one of them already bought the Arduino kit), we have some members who are willing to do any maths (if there's any involved) and then there's me, where I kinda offered to help out with the writing component (i.e. referencing and reports). Our next task is to write a problem statement so we're planning to meet tomorrow after the ENGG common lecture to touch base.

I also signed up to the WIESoc Protege Program, where I'm grouped with people who are doing the same/similar degree and a mentor. I was so shocked that I met people who are doing aerospace engineering since I've only met one person (prior to meeting them). Our group got along really well, so it was cool I was able to meet people who also are interested in aerospace. We had the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, which was a bit tiring since it went up until 8pm. I also (unexpectedly) signed up to the EngSoc VDP. I wanted to sign up for the WIESoc Subcommittee Recruitment but missed out, and the VDP deadline got extended so I decided to use this to my advantage and sign up. I didn't expect myself to get accepted but I went to their workshop on Saturday. I didn't expect people to be at uni on a Saturday but it was interesting to meet people from other engineering streams and years.

So that's the summary of my week.

Anyways, see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

Joseph41

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2019, 05:22:58 pm »
0
It also doesn't help that my lecturer/tutor (?) kinda roasted us during the workshop ;-;

What happened? :-\

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #19 on: March 04, 2019, 07:02:59 pm »
+4
What happened? :-\
So my group was working on the worksheet and one of the questions required us to convert the units to base units. For example, the first question was Newtons so using F=ma, we get kg.ms-2 (because SI units for mass is kg and for acceleration it's ms-2). We were a bit confused with the question and the tutor (who's also my lecturer) walks past our table. We were a bit quiet so he asks if we were ok so then one of the group members was like "Yeah we're kinda a bit unsure with this question." He was explaining how we should use the formula to figure out the base units while asking us questions but all of us were a bit unresponsive. When one of my friends tried to answer one of his questions he was like "Looks like someone's been skipping lectures." When we got to Coulomb he started asking us about amperes and current and I was gonna suggest to go through the V=IR formula but then he was like "Hmm nooo" and went through the rest of the questions. By the time he finished explaining it, he was like "Have you not done this in high school?" All of us were quiet. "Hmm, I guess you learn something new everyday" or something like that and walked away.

Because of that, we were didn't want to ask him questions because we didn't want another roasting from him ;-;
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #20 on: March 05, 2019, 05:03:24 pm »
+3
So my group was working on the worksheet and one of the questions required us to convert the units to base units. For example, the first question was Newtons so using F=ma, we get kg.ms-2 (because SI units for mass is kg and for acceleration it's ms-2). We were a bit confused with the question and the tutor (who's also my lecturer) walks past our table. We were a bit quiet so he asks if we were ok so then one of the group members was like "Yeah we're kinda a bit unsure with this question." He was explaining how we should use the formula to figure out the base units while asking us questions but all of us were a bit unresponsive. When one of my friends tried to answer one of his questions he was like "Looks like someone's been skipping lectures." When we got to Coulomb he started asking us about amperes and current and I was gonna suggest to go through the V=IR formula but then he was like "Hmm nooo" and went through the rest of the questions. By the time he finished explaining it, he was like "Have you not done this in high school?" All of us were quiet. "Hmm, I guess you learn something new everyday" or something like that and walked away.

Because of that, we were didn't want to ask him questions because we didn't want another roasting from him ;-;

Yikes, sounds pretty harsh. Hope you didn't take it too personally!

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #21 on: March 08, 2019, 06:34:31 pm »
+11
Hey guys,

I guess Week 3 is finally over and as usual, I'm tired lol. Well first off, my birthday was on Tuesday so I guess I'm an adult now, which means more responsibilities -_- Honestly though, enrolling into uni was already stressful so I can't wait to get taxed or start car insurance ;-; I don't usually celebrate birthdays but it was nice that people messaged me wishing a happy birthday. Funnily enough, most of them were either through AN or my uni friends so thanks for that guys <3, and none of my high school friends messaged me hmm... Anyway, my friends tried to buy me a drink at the roundhouse but I'm not really into drinking during the day so we bought a bunch of sides and brought the food upstairs to play mahjong lol. And then, I caught a cold. It was just a runny nose until I did my Makerspace Induction and inhaled a bunch of sawdust, leaving my throat irritated so now I have a chesty cough as well, so that's fun.

I also had a speech this week for ENGG, which was poor timing because I was talking in an air-conditioned room with a dry throat and blocked nose. I also wrote my speech the night before so I didn't do much practice, but I guess the amount of speeches I've done in high school has helped me deal with that since I had to do speeches without palm cards. However, I couldn't volunteer to go first since my mentor just let Moodle choose the order. I guess the only pro of not going first is to see how everyone structured their speeches because the task description was a bit vague. Even the idea of problem statements was a bit vague. Like, in the common lecture, when they went through problem statements, they didn't really explicitly say how to write one, only that it can't be too specific and it needs to be succinct and define the problem. There are a lot of guides out there but it still was confusing. For example, we were told that including the budget was too specific (i.e. design a product less than $100). But then as I was talking to Jamon and my physics teacher (yes, I still keep in contact with him, and he was a civil engineer), both of them said that design, logistical and even financial constraints play an important role of framing the actual problem so I was confused.

And speaking of ENGG, I also got my Impromptu Writing Task marks back. Back in Week 1, we were assigned into groups alphabetically and had to built a water tower out of cups, straws, paddle pop sticks and tape (I guess I should include cup stacking on my resume now lol). After that, we had to do a writing task to reflect on the design task/group dynamic. They gave us 35 minutes to write a response in reference to an extract from an engineering textbook (I guess it's Advanced English all over again). The actual construction doesn't go into my final grade but the writing task does. And as usual, I had no clue what I was doing when I was writing my response because we haven't learnt anything in ENGG. I guess they liked my response because I got an HD for the task. I guess this gives me a bit of hope because I'm literally just aiming for a pass for all of my subjects. I'd love to get a HD in all of my subjects but I've set my standards low so I won't get too disappointed when I get my marks back (woah this got dark real fast).

Anyway, I have to finish my quizzes so see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #22 on: April 09, 2019, 08:17:41 pm »
+9
Hey guys,

Ohh boy it's been a while since I've updated. I've been extremely busy because of uni, as usual. The term started out with a moderate amount of work and now I'm bombarded with assignments and other extra-curricular activities. I'll start off with the fact that I had a bunch of reports due at some point, along with a group presentation- this is specifically ENGG. My group keeps changing the design and since we have a compliance testing this Thursday, we're scrambling to have a basic prototype ready. On top of this, I had a maths assignment due last Friday. The questions aren't bad but the explaining is what took so long. It was even worse since we had to do this on LaTeX or Word. I gave up with LaTeX and did my assignment on Word. It got to the point where I was staying up until 1am and missing my physics lecture to make sure I finished the majority of the assignment before 5pm (which was when it was due). I think this screwed up my body clock because I found myself sleeping at 3am on Friday and Saturday, so now I have dark circles under my eyes and my skin is breaking out lol (I really need to invest in a concealer at this point).

Oh yes, I also had an in-class physics quiz and that was disastrous. I was on the verge of breaking down during the quiz and once I finished I broke down in the bathroom. The thing that sucks about the quiz was that it's based on luck. The question bank may be the same as the questions for the weekly quizzes, but again, it's based on luck. They might be nice and give you friction questions or you might be really unlucky and get rotation questions. But yeah, I didn't even feel prepared for the quiz so it didn't help with my nervousness.

On top of this, my application for the EngSoc VDP somehow got accepted so I had to go to 3 workshops on the weekend. VDP, or Volunteer Development Program, is where you go to 2 soft skills workshop and 1 Industrial Training Workshop and then you do 15 hours of volunteering. The whole point is for engineers to develop their soft skills, and this gets recorded onto my AHEGS. It was pretty cool to meet people who are in 2nd+ years from different disciplines. Now the workshops are done, I need to do my volunteering hours. I've planned out my hours and have applied to volunteer, I just need to do them (and all of my volunteering is in May/June).

Anyway, I need to finish my quizzes early this week so see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2019, 08:04:09 pm »
+9
Hey guys,

I'm finally updating after a month haha. It's been pretty busy the past month, especially because of the number of assignments that increases (specifically assignments for ENGG1000) and preparing for exams. It's funny how my engg group spent most of the term changing the design and then within two days we managed to have something to show for our compliance testing lol. I don't know how we managed to do it but we did. And a Maccas run has become our group thing now, especially since most of us have the My Maccas app so we're always on top of those discounts/deals. I also was busy with work- as much as I enjoy working, it was exhausting, especially how I have to run to uni after work to attend my lectures and tutorials, and also stop by for a bit and help with construction for engg. But my day out on Anzac Day with my friends did help me take a step back from work and just relax. We went to see Endgame together and boy was it good (coming from someone who didn't see Infinity War lol). Watching Endgame made me feel like I wanna buy all the Marvel figurines (rip my bank account).

Anyway, the final testing for engg was very stressful. We were a day behind for construction because three of the members were sick and couldn't come to uni on Saturday and work on the vehicle. We tried to finish the tasks on the day but it took longer than expected we didn't have time to use the test track. On top of that, our motors were fried and one of the wheels weren't attached properly, and our Mega Arduino wasn't working on the day so we ran around collecting as many coins to buy another Mega Arduino (it's annoying because the vending machine doesn't take card and only coins -_-). So while the pulley system we made worked, it couldn't pick up any balls and could barely move so we didn't do well in the final testing. And the aesthetic appeal of our vehicle was... questionable lol. Our team actually got the lowest mark in comparison to the other teams (even after the marks have been modified). We decided that we should submit the report early after the project coordinator said that we could get bonus points for submitting the report early. We need those bonus marks. It was annoying how everyone agreed to finish their part by Friday but then they finished all on Monday. And they also had big plans of "let's sit down and make sure everyone edits the report" but that didn't happen. And I needed to study for math as well (which I'm sure everyone was doing, which was why they didn't finish it on time). So I was left to do the editing and formatting AGAIN (this was what happened when we submitted the design proposal). Idk, they're usually a good group but when it comes to reports, everyone just does their part and backs out. Like, one of my members uploaded they're part (late) and they're like "Is there anything else I can help with" and I said "I'm editing at the moment so if you can have a quick skim and see if there's anything I missed that would be great", to which they said "Yep okay" and then leaves the Google Doc. Like, what was the point of asking if there's anything you can do when you're not gonna do it...?

And then we have exams. Holy crap math and physics was brutal. I tried writing down any relevant formulas or ideas in questions I had no idea how to solve so I'm praying that it's a) relevant and b) they'll award me at least 1 mark for trying lol. I was so close to having a panic attack before my math exam and then after the exam I just broke down with a panic attack. I'm glad my friends were there. We all were in different rooms but once we met up I just broke down because I had no clue what I was doing, I was stressed and there's no way I'm passing maths and physics. And physics, omg. You know you're screwed when the first question is a rotation question. Asking you to sketch a graph of some sorts. And then the rest of the questions ask you to derive expressions. In fact, most of the paper asked me to write an expression and even had questions being like "using answer from part ___" and I'm there not even sure how to do the previous question. The only question I was able to confidently answer was the questions on conservative and non-conservative forces because a) it was in a past paper and b) Joe Wolfe made is recite it in the lecture like 5 times. But I did try to write any relevant formulas or if I attempted to solve the question, made sure I had the correct significant figures, so hopefully I can get a mark for that. Thank god I showed up to all my tutorials and workshops because I'm eligible to do supplementary exams. I guess I should start preparing for supplementary exams.

After physics, my friends and I went to Town Hall to hang out, have lunch and go shopping (which reminded me that I really need to buy some winter clothes because I barely have any lol). It's a relief that we're now officially on holidays but not that good when you have parents asking you why you found the exam hard and then saying "I told you so" in regards to me not doing the bridging course back in January -_- Anyway, it's good to finally step back from uni and finally sleep in because I'm gonna be spending the holidays doing a bit of work, binge watching movies/anime and doing some volunteering as well.

Anyways, see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2019, 06:35:24 pm »
+1
Hi Olivia! I whizzed through your journal because it was incredibly fascinating and reading it makes me sooo pumped for uni to start next year! And your course sounds really interesting, I don't know much about it so I'm keen to see how it goes through your eyes. Is it easy making friends? 

It was annoying how everyone agreed to finish their part by Friday but then they finished all on Monday.

Like, what was the point of asking if there's anything you can do when you're not gonna do it...?

Ohh the feels. I can 1000% relate to this so much omg. Literally never had a positive group experience.

Where are you planning to work/volunteer? And what movies are you going to watch? What's your fav part about uni?

Have a fun week and excited to be on this star trekking journey with you ⭐️

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #25 on: May 12, 2019, 07:27:18 pm »
+5
Hi Olivia! I whizzed through your journal because it was incredibly fascinating and reading it makes me sooo pumped for uni to start next year! And your course sounds really interesting, I don't know much about it so I'm keen to see how it goes through your eyes. Is it easy making friends? 
Hey there!

As stressful as it is, engineering is quite fun. Honestly though, making friends was easier than I thought (coming from someone who was stressing about this the day before my first day of uni). The easiest way to make friends is literally being like "Hey are you here for class ____"- that's honestly how I made friends. A girl asked me that, we talked for a bit, a girl nearby also stopped by to chat and now the three of us (plus two other girls) are hanging out as much as we can. On top of that, ENGG1000 (which is your typical first year engineering course) is literally where you make friends, all the older engineering students agree with that. I was lucky I had a good group (even though I was a bit annoyed with them about the report) but we were quite close and we've never really had any conflicts. And our weekly Maccas run was fun as well. Plus, it's really cool to meet people doing different engineering degrees. Like, I've met people doing software, biomed/mechatronics, civil to people doing interesting combinations such as law/electrical, electrical/advanced chem, aerospace/finance.

Apart from that, there are a lot of societies that help you make friends. I did the Protege Program with WIESoc and they put me with a group of first year girls who are also doing aerospace and a fifth year aerospace student and we are quite close (we went to see Endgame together haha). So yeah, there are so many ways you can make friends at uni!

Where are you planning to work/volunteer? And what movies are you going to watch? What's your fav part about uni?
I'll be volunteering for the RSPCA Million Paws Walk next Sunday (which I'm excited for because doggos), Run2Cure and Red Cross Pop Up Shop. It's mostly because part of the EngSoc Volunteer Development Program (which is what I'm completing), I need to do 15 hours of volunteering for it to be recorded to my AHEGS but I do genuinely like volunteering so I can't wait to help out during the holidays.

As for work, I actually work for ATAR Notes haha and the HSC career expo is around the corner so I'll be hanging out at the AN stall ;)

And what movies are you going to watch?
Re-watching old Marvel movies haha. After seeing Endgame, I just felt like going back and watching how these characters have grown up over the past 10+ years. I also haven't watched a few Marvel movies like Doctor Strange, Thor Ragnarok and Captain Marvel so I'll definitely need to catch up on that.

What's your fav part about uni?
Part of it is the freedom. Like, you don't need to go to lectures, or you can leave campus in between your lectures and go for a bubble tea run. The other part is that there are so many ways you can get involved. I was always annoyed in high school that the only ways you can get involved is either be an SRC member, do sport/something creative like choir or do debating/public speaking and there were never enough opportunities, especially leadership opportunities. But at uni, there are so many societies trying to get you to join. My fb feed is filled with societies promoting leadership/exchange programs. You can also get free healthcare at uni (i.e. free vaccinations, counselling sessions etc). In fact, one of my friends (from engg) sprained his wrist when he was drunk during O-week and he was able to get a free consultation and everything (his parents still don't know about it lol).

Have a fun week and excited to be on this star trekking journey with you ⭐️
Can't wait to see you around!
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #26 on: May 19, 2019, 06:46:58 pm »
+8
Hey guys,

It's still the holidays but I just came back from volunteering with RSPCA today. So today was the Million Paws Walk and was held at the Cathy Freeman Park. They said in the email to get a good night's sleep, especially since I had to be there at 6.30am. Holy smokes did I not sleep well. I had about 3 hours of sleep because I just couldn't sleep (my dark circles were so bad this morning). My dad drove me to Sydney Olympic Park because I would've had to catch the 5.34am train and it was still very dark.

I knew that I was assigned the role of Entry Attendant but I had no clue what that role entailed (well, I'm pretty sure I read the role description when I was choosing what role to pick but I couldn't remember lol). Once they briefed me this morning, my role wasn't that bad. In fact, I feel like I got one of the best roles. I was talking to one of the volunteers and she was telling me how she volunteered to be the Entry Attendant again so she can see all the dogs. And boy was she right. My role was to check that all pre-registered attendees had their wristbands or an email confirming their attendance and let them in (with  2 other volunteers). I literally stood at the entrance looking out for blue wristbands or checking emails, and then pat their dogs. OMG THERE WERE SO MANY DOGGOS!!! There were a few staffies and cavoodles but then there were Great Danes, huskies, German Shepherds and Samoyeds. It was adorable seeing pugs with little bowties and chihuahuas in strollers. I even saw a Yorkshire Terrier wearing a little Sailor Moon outfit. And all the dogs came up to me and said hi. It was pretty funny how some of the dogs would jump on me while the owners are on their phone trying to find the email and they're apologising profusely but I'm just there patting and cuddling their dogs haha.

Even though the email said my shift finished at 2.30pm, we finished early at around 12.30pm because there wasn't anyone coming to the event by that time. And we didn't really need to pack up anything since most of us were either standing at the entrance or just sitting at the registers. Again, it was so cool seeing so many doggos and patting a whole bunch of them for 5.5 hours straight I feel like my cat was able to smell dogs on my hands haha.

Anyway, see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #27 on: June 03, 2019, 11:41:41 am »
+7
Hey guys,

So T2 starts today and there has been so much happening during the past few weeks. Well firstly, I got my final marks back and boyy was I breaking down. First off, I got a distinction in ENGG1000, which I'll take. But then math and physics arrived, and that's when the breakdowns occurred. I already knew I failed math because I got an email saying that I can do my supplementary exams. Cool. But then physics came around and I just broke down because I couldn't even do a supplementary exam for physics. I was already getting a panic attack from seeing the email come through and when I saw my physics mark that's when I broke down and cried for probably 4 hours straight. I couldn't even study for math without breaking down after doing one question. So I spent the weekend studying for my math exam because I wasn't sure what to expect from the exam. I did my exam on Monday, and the exam wasn't as bad as I thought. The exam was on Maple TA and the questions weren't as difficult as the ones in the final exam. Thank god I passed Math 1A because if I failed math and physics, my timetable will be screwed up. So I had to push ENGG1300 to next term because Physics 1A is a prerequisite for the course (along with Math 1A). And thank god I only enrolled into two subjects for T3 just in case if I failed a course (and surprise surprise I did). I was going to do a first year elective in T3 and do CVEN1701 but since it's only offered in T2 and T3, looks like I'll need to find an elective offered in T1. I'll probably end up doing PSYC1001- I heard a lot of good reviews about it and apparently there are a lot of essays to do (which is great because I can at least make it look like I know what I'm doing).

I would've had Thursday off if I passed physics, and I guess I could technically skip my physics lectures (and thank god for lab exemptions) but I want to see if the physics lecturer is better than my previous one. I feel like at this point, it's all about making sure my notes are consolidated and I do as many practice questions as I can because I didn't do a lot of them last term. And since now I kinda know what's going on, I can use more time doing past papers.

Anyway, my lecture is starting so see you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

owidjaja

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #28 on: June 09, 2019, 11:47:21 pm »
+7
Hey guys,

So it's the first week of uni done and I'm exhausted lol. I'd like to think I'm not as exhausted as last term (yet), considering how I have a day off. Technically, I'm supposed to be at uni everyday but because I have a physics lecture and lab (which I've been exempted from) on Thursday, I've decided to not go to lectures since I'd rather use the hour consolidating my notes and doing practice questions. Plus, I feel like this term's lecturer is even worse than last term's lecturer. At least my previous lecturer did a lot of demonstrations to keep me awake, but my new lecturer usually reads off the slides and doesn't do as many demonstrations. Plus, unlike last term, the lecture recordings are a bit more useful since the working out is done by hand and on a camera that gets projected (lmao I can't think of what it's called), so I can still keep up with any working out. As for the lecture notes, my lecturer uses the other lecturer's notes (and he's uploaded both the slides and handwritten notes) so I can consolidate my notes and follow along the working out.

I find that this format of studying is actually helping me. Like, because I don't attend physics lectures, I have more time to study and work on physics (as well as other subjects), especially since I'm not wasting 2+ hours on transport. And I don't usually work on transport because I'm either too tired (and will actually fall asleep) or it just doesn't feel like a good place for me to have my exercise book out and balance my calculator and pen etc. (although I have been using my time on the train working on some writing projects since I felt bad for abandoning them last term). I find this a bit strange because I'm the type of person who goes to every single lecture in the hopes that I learn something but doing a bit of self-learning has been a lot more productive.

As for my other classes, I do like my algebra lecturer. He explains the concepts well and goes at the perfect pace, but because he uses the chalkboard rather than the camera, we don't really have any lecture recordings. It does record his voice though, but it's hard to follow. This means I can't afford to miss any of the lectures (not that I would) or be late to them, otherwise I need to ask someone for their notes (which might be a bit hard to follow). My calculus lecturer, on the other hand, was okay. Not as good as my algebra lecturer but a vast improvement from last term's calculus lecturer. I like how there are lecture slides and his handwritten notes (which he also uploads on Moodle). He also does his working out during the lecture so it's easy to follow along, whereas last term most of the working out is already on the slides, which makes it difficult to understand since it's done in chunks. However, he doesn't do a lot of explaining. Like, he'd do a basic introduction and then do a bunch of questions, which isn't too bad but I'd like to know what and why I'm doing the working out rather than adopting a rote learning style. As for my math tutor, he's also a great improvement from last term. Last term, I had an old Russian tutor and he didn't seem enthusiastic to help. Like, he'd say he wants us to ask questions but when we do, he kinda seems reluctant. For example, there was a student who needed help with a question and he pointed out there was a video solution but she said she still didn't understand it. His response was "I don't want to waste time." He also never gave us any contact details/contact hours, which was what shocked me with my current tutor because he immediately wrote down his email and told us he'd be at the Drop In Centre as well as other places he commonly hangs out in so we can find him easily. And he actually explains his working out quite well.

For comp, I was a bit nervous for it because I have no knowledge of computing/programming whatsoever. But the lecturer seems very approachable and passionate in what he's doing so it does ease my nerves a bit. He's also very open to questions since he emphasised on COMP1511 being a "no assumed knowledge" course. My tutor was also very nice and approachable, and also very helpful in labs. I was a bit nervous about labs because I'm scarred from physics labs being so stressful. On top of that, my tutor told us to line ourselves on a spectrum between "an expert" and "beginner" level. A lot of the "experienced" students were taken up so I partnered myself up with another "beginner" student (which wasn't too bad since we did spend our lunch hanging out at the Whitehouse). But when we did our practice labs, it wasn't too bad. In fact, it was a "follow the instructions" activity. And we also can submit our lab assignments later and can stay in the computer lab longer than the 2 hours that have been booked. And it was satisfying when the code actually works. I am still slightly nervous about coding because I don't know how to write it, in the sense of if we were given a situation and I had to write a code, I wouldn't know how to even though we wrote one in together in one of the lectures.

I'm amazed that I've been keeping myself a lot more organised during the past week. I was up to date with my physics notes and completed the homework set. I finished my math quizzes pretty early (even though they extended the due date) and I did my tute questions on time. At the moment, I'm almost done making my physics notes for next week so I have more time to do more questions in the homework set. I also finished Quiz 1 for physics early (and managed to get 100% for the first time- shout out to blasonduo for always helping me in physics!) so I can redo Quiz 1 multiple times and be more exposed to more questions in the question bank. I can also spend more time doing the tute questions for next week and have a head start on my math quizzes (although I am a bit annoyed that they uploaded the Week 2 tutes/quizzes towards the end of the week, unlike last term when they released the first 2 weeks of quizzes). I think it's because I'm cutting down my time at uni and can spend more time studying at home since I don't need to go to uni everyday. And having my classes start at 12pm onwards (with the exception of my 9am tute/11am workshop) gives me time to study in the library since I always arrive there at least 1 hour earlier than my class.

Anyway, I should go to sleep.

See you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW

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Re: (Star) Trekking My Way to Space - Olivia's Uni Journal
« Reply #29 on: November 09, 2019, 05:15:30 pm »
+10
Hey guys,

It's been so long since I've updated lol. That's because I've been busy during the past two terms - I just happened to have a bit of time now before all my assignments are due.

Term 2
Let's start with the remainder of Term 2. Well it's a miracle I passed math, especially since they got rid of supplementary exams (the exam that saved my math grade in Term 1 lol). To be honest, I was able to do one question properly and the rest I had no clue so I wrote random crap lmao. As for physics, I walked into the exam feeling a bit better than my Term 1 exams. BUT I will say that I am lowkey annoyed at the School of Physics because when I got my final marks back, it said I failed the course. At that point, I had no clue what I did wrong because I spent last term making sure I got 100% in all my weekly quizzes and went to help sessions. I cried myself to sleep that night. But then, I get an email the next day saying that they calculated my final mark wrong because they forgot to include my lab exemption mark. I was relieved but also extremely pissed off. These days, I'm more paranoid with the pre-exam marking because I would never have known that they forgot to include my lab exemption mark. Moving on to comp, boy did I struggle with that course. At the beginning of the term, I didn't think the subject was that bad until the assignments came. Because it took me so long to understand the content, I always fell behind. It reached the point where I would cry whenever I'd do a quiz or during labs, or have panic attacks in the middle of lectures. I stopped attending lectures because of that. Shout out to Jamon for helping as much as he could last term but I failed comp lmao. I'll be taking ENGG1811 next year, which is Python. I started learning Matlab and Python by myself and omg they're a lot easier than C.

Term 3
This term, I'm taking ELEC1111, ENGG1300 and MMAN2130. These subjects are quite full-on. ENGG is difficult because not only does my lecturer go through stuff really fast, but it's completely different to what I've been taught in physics and getting out of my past habits is difficult lmao. ELEC is difficult because they're expecting a lot of things such as need to pass the lab exam and getting at least 40% in finals to pass the course. MMAN is difficult because there's a 4 hour TAFE component and my TAFE class finishes at 9pm, which doesn't leave me a lot of time to study (and I have a lab the next morning).

Let's start with ENGG. I appreciate my lecturer for providing so many resources and giving us the opportunity to give as many free marks as possible. For example, we just need to complete a set of questions and show it to the tutor and that's 1 mark given to us each week (the answers don't need to be correct - you just need to have an attempt). The tutorials are also very helpful, even though they rush going through the questions because we always run out of time. The Block Tests, however, are brutal. We're given 45 minutes to do 3 questions, but these questions take so long to do. It's a miracle I passed the first test but I don't think I passed the second test because I wasn't as prepared, and also because I spent a lot of my exam time crying over how I was unsure on how to do these questions. The lab reports aren't that bad though. I thrive on any writing components so it's not too bad.

When it comes to ELEC, I like how my lecturer has provided a lot of resources and lots of practice questions. However, the mid-terms were extremely rough. Apparently the average mark was 59 but a lot of my friends and the ELEC group chat members were saying they didn't pass the mid-terms (including myself). The lab exam wasn't hard, but the fact that I needed to pass the lab exam to pass the course added a lot more pressure. I was having a break down in the middle of the exam and one of my lab demos had to calm me down in the middle of the exam, especially since by the time I had completed half of the exam correctly, he was reminding me that I've already passed the lab exam. At this point, I'm re-learning everything because there are so many parts in the course where I'm trying to understand but I take so long to understand things rip.

As for MMAN, it doesn't have a final exam (thank god) but it is a group project with 3 tests during the term (each worth like 3%). I'd enjoy the group project even more if everyone was contributing. There should be 5 people in each group but because a lot of people dropped the course, they allowed having 4 people in each group. I happened to have 4 members (two of them are my friends) but one of them doesn't contribute or put any effort. Essentially, it's a 3 person group. We had to tell him off after submitting our first group assignment. As for the CAD tests, we have to make a part within 45 minutes. The problem is, 45 minutes isn't long enough. Plus, SolidWorks is annoying. Firstly, it's only on Windows (so I had to download Windows to my Mac laptop). The fact that it's very laggy makes it difficult to prepare for these tests. Even when using the computers at uni, it's notorious for lagging and crashing. And on a less important note, the layout of SolidWorks is ugly lol. At least use AutoDesk or Fusion, where it's compatible with Mac and doesn't lag.

Apart from me ranting about my courses, I'm getting more involved in uni life. I was a bit more involved in Term 1 but because I failed physics, I decided to step back on that in Term 2. I've decided to join the AIAA Rocketry Team, specifically the media team because they're in desperate need of content lol. I also recently ran for Marketing Director for AIAA and got the position! My friends also got executive positions in AIAA. The reason why we all pushed for executive positions is because at the moment, AIAA is disorganised. They don't upload content consistently and when they do, they always upload it at the weirdest times (like 2am). We all want to make improvements to the society so that's our main goal for 2020.

Anyway, I need to finish my second report which is due next week rip.

See you soon!

- Olivia
2018 HSC: English Advanced | Mathematics | Physics | Modern History | History Extension | Society and Culture | Studies of Religion I

ATAR: 93.60

2019: Aerospace Engineering (Hons)  @ UNSW