Mid Terms, The journey, The reality and The spiraling of emotions.

As you could tell, I have been absolutely MIA from social media as much as I could. This includes limited time spent on instagram and updating my blogging account. 

I believe a week prior before a big exam, is truly CRUNCH time. This means, spending lesser time on things that would drive you to procrastinate more and stray your focus away. Personally, I take a week off and do a social media 'diet', where I use it as a platform at the end of the day, as cooldown. Never in between the hours of the day. I even switch off my notifications on all my social medias for this. To make sure i am disciplined to not falter and log into my social media. 

                                            *Scroll down if you want to read how it went instead*

These are the very few things I did for Mid-Term Preparation:                                                    

1.  Made a CHECKLIST 

        This ensures I have thoroughly gone through each testable material in the mid-term thoroughly. I            also make sure I leave a space to take notes for topics I would need to go back on, and with                    greater focus. Here's mine:

2. FOCUS on the topics you are weaker on first.

Don't dwell on the topics you have already had a good grasp on. Jump straight to the hard and ones you aren't able to understand well. If they are a HUGE concept, its even more dire to get your understanding down, for the exam!

3. PRIORITISE your time and days well

What I mean by this is, Pre-planned ahead of time which topics you would be focusing on. I like to go in the order of which exams come first, and which exam has a heavier weighting. I then distribute my time equally across the courses that have a mid-term exam component. 

4. HAVE BREAKS!

You only work twice as efficient with a clear and focused mindset. Yes, exams are super stressful, and even more so when you have tons to worry about. Be it the sheer amount of topics covered, and even more so when you are worried you aren't able to do well. Self-doubt during these times are HIGH. They eat at you and make you experience a spiral of emotions. GOOD and Bad. 

Take time off when your body tells you to. Workout, have a walk and eat meals. Talk to a friend, and spend time for YOU when you need it. 

How Mid-Terms went:

This time around, I had just 3 Mid-term exams. The courses that had the mid-terms were Calculus 1, Physics and Chinese. Here's a breakdown of what happened, per courses:

Calculus 1

I have mentioned before that I am absolutely the worst and 💩at ANY.... and i mean ANY subjects that has a number component to them. SO having Calc in 1st semester, as a med student is ABSOLUTELY a nightmare. Mind you, I was never great at numbers, nor good at any math.... EVEN in High School. I would describe my situation as attaining a *GO STRAIGHT TO CALC, do not pass GO and collect the basic knowledge needed for Calculus* 

How I prepared for Calculus however, is by no means conventional, and if you are already knowing every basic and topic for Calc, I certainly do not recommend what i did. 

I 'attentively attend the Calculus lecture' by copying EVERY single handwritten formula and example given by the Professor. Bear in mind, during class, I am absolutely clueless on what the topic is being covered, given that there is absolutely no list given prior to the students on what the topics will be covered for the lesson are. Hence, i count my lecture attendance as a FIRST pass of the material. Immediately after class on the very same day, I jump straight to Professor Leonard's Calculus videos. His videos are long, (some are like 2 hours).. but they are explained really well and thoroughly. I only recommend this method if you are like me. ZERO skills and knowledge at calculus basics (or have been years out of touch with maths..). 

Link Below if interested!!!

Professor Leonard's Calculus 1 Playlist

After which, I then attempt to do questions that are in our recommended textbooks. For number courses, a dry passive repeat of notes isn't as efficient. Doing questions after questions to drill in the idea of HOW to use the formula is recommended. I highly recommend a multiple practice questions per week approach. 

How the exam went... well personally, it was HARD and it was challenging. Doesnt help that the exam proctoring and invigilation is actually NOISY AF. This is legit the few things that actually bothers me during an exam. NOISE. Was highly tempted to be 'SHUSHING the invigilator too.. 🙄

Physics

My method to review this subject is long and tedious. What works for me may not work for any of you. But this is how i prepared for the exam. 

→ Browse the Lecture PPT

→ Read through the Chapter(s) involved and make notes

→Watch THE ORGANIC CHEM TUTOR on youtube, for  the selected topic. (Highly recommend the ones he uses problems and solutions)

→ Compile a list of Formulas used to solve the physics problem.

→ Do Practice questions!!

Now. This would have been an actual IDEAL way to approach this college level Physics. (If our Prof was actually efficient in his ways....)

        THINGS our PHYSICS Professor had said to 'HELP' in our Mid-Term Prep:

            1. JUST read PPT and HW 

            2. IF you DO HW and UNDERSTAND..... YOU'LL be FINE

            3. DON'T WORRY. It will be LIKE the HW I had ASSIGNED you. 

        THINGS THAT DID NOT HAPPEN:

            EVERYTHING he said ABOVE. 

            OUR EXAM had us use NONE of the formulas actually SHOWN in our HW or PPT

This meme. Is LEGIT feels. My cheat sheet was only next to me in my exam, for MORAL SUPPORT. Link below if you want to see the EFFORT I put in into making my cheat sheet 

My Physics Mid-Term Cheat Sheet

Chinese

As with any language or word subjects. Active recall and repetition is key. Flash cards, Daily self quizzes and constant repetition is key.

For this exam, I had underestimated the level of time crunch I would have faced in this exam. The format, 

PART 1:

    MCQ and a Reading Comprehension Component

PART 2:

    Short answers, Rewrite the sentence and an ESSAY component

This was me THROUGHOUT the Part 2 aspect of the exam. I was rushing through everything, and had ZERO time to check. And was internally screaming, each time I look at the timer and when the Teacher had announced that we have xxx amount of minutes left. I know for sure, my essay component was basic and bad. 

    Topic: Introduce a family member

    Me: Proceeds to write about how my mom loves to eat all the food (饺子， 包子， 米饭， 鸡蛋汤 面条)... 😓

This is HOW my MID-Terms went. Thank god it's over. 

One stepping stone done, many more to come... 

But for now, I am glad to be done with such a big exam. 

Stay tuned for this week's blog post! :)