This School Term

Hello!

So I wanted to share to you guys about my winter term course load and my thoughts about it. Currently, I'm only one week into the term and I am nervous, a bit stressed, and have LOTS to do, as usual. >_> What do you expect out of UofTears anyway.

The fascinating thing is that three out of the five courses I'm taking kind of operate in a "do the required readings/assessments before the next class" because of the assignments and tasks that they make you submit/hand in when you arrive to class. I wish calculus did something like that. It really helps me to have more motivation to keep on top of my stuff. I usually am on top of my stuff, but never enough to read a chapter BEFORE the lecture starts.

So this term, I am taking:

1) Learning and Behaviour (PSY260H)

2) Physiological Psychology/Biopsychology (PSY290H)

3) Introduction to Computer Programming (CSC108H)

4) Calculus (MAT235Y)

5) Ecosystems and the Human Footprint (EEB208H)

So, the top 4 courses are the courses required for my subject posts since I am currently a psychology major, math minor and statistics minor. My elective is number 5.

For my psychology major for 200 level courses, one of the requirements is to have 1 FCE from the 210-240 series and 1FCE from the 260-290 series. Last semester, I have taken PSY220H and PSY240H, which fulfills half of the requirement. Now I am just left with the remaining half. The first half tends to be a bit easier than the second half because the second half focuses more on the biological aspects, while the first half focuses on the overall information without getting too deep into the biology stuff.

I haven't taken a deep biology related course since my first year of grade 12, so I was nervous AF when I got the first introduction email from my prof a few days before the school term started again. PSY290 is notorious for being known as the hardest 2nd year course for psychology and not many people actually take it. There's never a wait list for this class, and there's always usually 100 spots left in the course. Same thing can be said for PSY280. PSY260 and PSY270 tend to be the more popular ones (probably because they're a bit easier and more interesting). I hope I do well in this class, but I cry everytime I open the textbook.

PSY260 was a class that I was originally planning to drop because it was a 9am class that lasted for 3 hours (like any other psychology class). Originally, I was enrolled in 6 courses, with my 6th one being PSY270 Cognitive Psychology, but that class was really heavy on the first day and there was already too much stuff happening on Thursday that I had no energy by the time I left that class. I plan to take it next year though, because the professor truly is amazing and the course is really interesting.

For calculus, its a year course so it's the typical stuff. I see the same few faces that actually show up to my section (enrolled is over 150 people but only like 30 show up to class). I would say we are a tight knit group but we don't talk to eachother, but we recognize each other outside of class LOL. It's a second year course so it mainly is a continuation from first year calculus, but focuses more on multi-variables whereas first year deals with only single variables (stuff you deal with in highschool calculus). I hope I do well in that class too because it gives me a lot of anxiety and stress. Third test is coming up in 2 weeks too sadly.

For CSC108, I found out recently that it was a requirement for my statistics minor. I was shook because I did enrol in it last year, but I dropped it before school started because I thought I didn't need it. I entered this class nervous AF because I had no experience in programming whatsoever. Thankfully, the professor is really good, and the overall course is organized in a way that is really helpful for the students. This is my first class that operates in an inverted classroom style, where you only come to lectures to practice. I heard so much horror stories of the inverted classroom style in statistics classes because the statistics department is known to be one of the least organized and worst departments. However, the computer science department is one of the top departments here at UofT. The way it works is that they have a prepare and perform section. The prepare section usually has to be done BEFORE the in-lecture component. Then after you have the lecture (where you practice), you have to complete the perform section. Both the prepare and perform are for marks. The prepare is worth 5% overall while the perform is worth 9% of the overall mark.

I do look forward to learning computer programming though. I have been enjoying it so far, but I'm a slow learner. I hope to become decent by the end of the course. +O+

Last course is the elective: EEB208H. I was looking for an elective that didn't require too much of a workload since the rest of my courses are heavy af. I sometimes question if I can handle 4 heavy ones in one go without it negatively impacting my GPA. Ya girl is trying to graduate with a high distinction here. Anyways, I also chose this class because I wanted it to be different from my usual stuff that I learn at school. Electives are usually refreshing because I enter not expecting to enjoy it, but in the end, I love it. It's a totally different world from my usual math and psychology. The environment is more relaxed, the professors are more peppy (my csc108 prof is pretty energetic though). It applies directly to issues IRL. So far, the professor does speak a bit too fast that it's hard to write down notes, so next class I will definitely convert to typing. The chapters are unfortunately long...ALL IN ALL, I EXPECT TO DO WELL.

This term, I hope to do well overall and enjoy the process of learning. I'm super excited about CSC108 though. I expected lots of work (there is a lot) but I also expected it to feel like a chore (like how I feel sometimes for calculus). So far, it doesn't feel like it THANKFULLY.

Also super excited and super scared to get back into biology related stuff. My memorization skills regarding the biological sciences suck af. I usually only get low to high 80s in those courses back in highschool. Same thing applies to chemistry. >_> I do better in physics (and enjoy it more).

I don't want to type anymore and since it's 2AM atm, I shall head off to shower, then sleep. This post kinda ended abruptly huh. O_O

Until then!

#school #updates #thoughts #greetings