[Ask Me Anything] #7: zsteve

[Alter]

ASK ME ANYTHING #7: zsteve

What is an AMA thread?
AMA #1: Orb
AMA #2: vox nihili
AMA #3: jamonwindeyer
AMA #4: RuiAce
AMA #5: pi
AMA #6: heidiii


Welcome to the 7th instalment of ATAR Notes' Ask Me Anything series!

As you'd already know by now from reading the title, our subject today will be zsteve! Zsteve is a highly valued member of the ATAR Notes community, not only being a Victorian Moderator in the Maths and Science subforum, but also being responsible for providing 100% free lectures for Maths on behalf of ATAR Notes.

If that hasn't already impressed you enough, zsteve scored a perfect ATAR score of 99.95 as a home-schooled student, making him one of the most accomplished students to ever complete VCE. His personal story received national coverage last year and he has been described as 'the new poster boy for home-schooling in Australia'.

I think I've embarrassed zsteve enough, so I'll hand it over to him to take over the thread.

In the quote below is a personal introduction written by the man himself.

Hey guys!
I'm Stephen (aka zsteve on ATAR Notes forums). I finished VCE in 2015, having done Methods, Spesh, Chemistry, Physics, English Language, and UMEP Maths. I'm currently seeing the finish of my first year in Science at University of Melbourne, where I'm more or less doing a continuation of my year 12 subjects (which I loved to bits, of course ) - I've done a pretty straight combination of maths (and more maths), chemistry, physics, and biology (take my word for it - uni bio is HARD if you haven't done VCE bio HAHAHA), as well as picking up microeconomics along the way. I've found uni ridiculously rewarding and fun.

Right now, I'm not exactly sure where I want to go with my degree, but it looks like a chemistry major/maths diploma at the moment

Outside of study (boring, right?), I 'regularly' go to the gym (stopped now because of exams ) and picked up debating (prior to dropping it like a hot potato because too hard/ceebs :'D). My other hobbies include computer programming (an old favourite), running (should do a few runs after exams), listening to music (the only way to switch my brain off on public transport), as well as reading.

Oh, and also pushing myself to my limits just for lels.

I find teaching extremely fun and rewarding, so I tutor a few VCE subjects on the weekend and also do lecturing for ATAR Notes (woohoo! )

Author's note: Legend has it that zsteve has one of the firmest and most robust handshakes known to man in the 21st century. I can personally attest to zsteve's firm and remarkable grip; it is an opportunity to die for. As always, please make sure to take advantage of this AMA and ask any appropriate questions that come to mind.

Have a nice day!

[RuiAce]

But why applied when you can pure tho

[EEEEEEP]

What is your chocolate?

[Swagadaktal]

If you had to shake the hands of anyone in the world, which hand would you shake?

And do you like any hand greetings outside of the shake?

[Sine]

What did you do in the time between your last VCE exam/UMEP exam and results day? 

[Elizawei]

Favourite quote?

[sweetiepi]

Just a few for you here:
1. What is the best book you have read and why?
2. What is your least favourite movie and what makes it that?
3. Can you describe yourself in three words or less?
4. Are you a taco fan?

[jamonwindeyer]

Done anything nifty/noteworthy with your programming pasttime?

[brenden]

Author's note: Legend has it that zsteve has one of the firmest and most robust handshakes known to man in the 21st century.

There is literally nothing more true than that statement. And I mean this in every possible way - metamathematically, metaphorically, literally, take your pick. This is the truest truth.

[AngelWings]

Some questions for you, zsteve:
1.

biology (take my word for it - uni bio is HARD if you haven't done VCE bio HAHAHA)

As a fellow student who didn't do VCE Bio and now is doing uni Bio, my main question is: are you planning on continuing it at all? (Besides major/ diploma.)
2. Just to keep with (a now broken) tradition  : What is the meaning of life?
3. What house would you be in if you were a Hogwarts student?
4. What motivates you and how do you motivate yourself?
5. Do you think anything has changed within you since starting uni (e.g. social life, personality changes, etc.)?

[zsteve]

But why applied when you can pure tho

I'm picking applied (a) because I've always liked the applied side of maths and I have a secondary interest in physics (vector calculus in first semester was pretty cool in that it pretty much meant I didn't need to pay attention for half of Physics 2 (Electromagnetism) ) and (b) because it probably complements my other interests better.

What is your chocolate?

The real questions . I'm not a particular chocolatey person, but if I had my pick, I'd probably go for Picnic HAHAHA.

If you had to shake the hands of anyone in the world, which hand would you shake?

And do you like any hand greetings outside of the shake?

Hmm... Trump naah probably Edward Snowden
And sometimes the hand-clasp rather than the shake. And on occasion the fist-bump :3

What did you do in the time between your last VCE exam/UMEP exam and results day? 

From what I remember, I spent my time not doing much HAHA - mainly getting my breath back after basically 9 exams in three weeks. After a while, I did end up doing some stuff for tutoring work, trying to re-learn piano (failed miserably), reading history (kind of worked), and learning Chinese (made progress for a while). Oh, and I tried studying some physics because at the time I wasn't intending on doing it at uni (turns out I did)

In hindsight, perhaps I should have chilled more and zoomed out of life rather than launching straight into other plans :3

And I'll answer the rest soon the next time I procrastinate from studying for uni exams

[zsteve]

Favourite quote?

Hmm...
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others? - Martin Luther King

Just a few for you here:
1. What is the best book you have read and why?
2. What is your least favourite movie and what makes it that?
3. Can you describe yourself in three words or less?
4. Are you a taco fan?

1. Best book I've read - it's been a while (in recent years I've been mainly reading historical/non-fiction when I get the chance, so I can't really say any of them are super awesome haha. Should get back to reading fiction). I've always enjoyed a good classic, some of the ones I've enjoyed specifically are Herman Melville's Bartleby, a short and weird plot, but the pathos behind the character of Bartleby is real and highlights how much pain can lie under the surface of an otherwise smiling face.

2. HAHAHA I have stopped watching movies. Just to answer your question though, I've always really enjoyed anything Tintin-related, so the animated Tintin series was an old favourite of mine (from when I was like 9 years old). A bit more of a niche film (I found somewhere in the library), Tintin and the Blue Oranges (French with English subs) I found fascinating.

3. I need to think about this one

[sweetcheeks]

Steve

1) When you were preparing for your chemistry exam, how well were you doing on the practice papers? Were you always close to full marks?

2) If I have not completed VCE physics would I find first year physics to be challenging (as much as you say bio is?)

[zsteve]

4. Are you a taco fan?

I can't say I am - the times I've had tacos in my 18 years and 9 months on planet Earth can probably be numbered off on one hand . With regards to my diet, I'd like to say I'm an omnivore in its truest definition. I usually eat what's on my plate. Generally not a picky eater, but I generally refuse to eat dates, figs and papayas . Tried to think of a favourite food, but couldn't really name any single one. sushi, kebabs, some types of Asian food (by no means all), Italian food. These all sit well with me HAHAHA.

Done anything nifty/noteworthy with your programming pasttime?

Hmmm...  https://github.com/zsteve
I used to host a few of my projects on GitHub, which were written in C++/C (and generally quite buggy, but oh well. fun times!).
Probably the one masterpiece was an emulator for the intel 8086 microprocessor from the 1970s, which I wrote over the first half of my year 11 (this was able to interpret and execute machine assembly code). Quite a good insight into how computer systems operated on the hardware level (had to deal with memory segmentation, addressing, hardware interrupts and fun things like that).

Haven't been programming much since I got converted to science and maths

Some questions for you, zsteve:
1. As a fellow student who didn't do VCE Bio and now is doing uni Bio, my main question is: are you planning on continuing it at all? (Besides major/ diploma.)

I've found the molecular/microscopic aspect of biology very interesting, and I'll be doing biochemistry/molecular biology, both because of interest and also as a med prereq next year. Depending on how my course planning goes, I'm also hoping to do another molecular biology subject to keep the option of a biochem major open. It's interesting how your preferences change from high school to uni - coming out of year 12, I was all maths/chem/physics and rather lacked an interest in biology. First year has really evened me out in that respect - I'm finding that I more or less enjoy each of maths, physics, chemistry, and biology in their own right well, either that or I'm believing my own bs that I made up to motivate myself to study bio HAHAHA

More to come

[TheCommando]

Hey Stephen,
1. For someome who is struggling to understand maths, apart from getting help from tudor, what do u suggest i cam do by myself when i'm at home
2. Why did u choose English Language over English
3. Favourite food?
4. Thoughts on Harry Potter? And have u read the books and watched the movies
Thanks