heartache studies

i keep seeing posts out there saying that you need to read the textbook to succeed in class. NO. you do not need to read the textbook. at least not for many, if not most, of your classes. first of all, it’s impractical. profs can assign up to 2-3 a week, and if you’re taking around 4-5 classes, that’s a WHOLE LOT of reading. if you have time to do so, go ahead, but a lot of students don’t have that much time on their hands. so i’m suggesting that you DON’T need to read every single chapter your prof assigns. what you DO need to do is to get smarter at selecting what and when to read, as well as scanning the text effectively.

when TO read the textbook

when your profs tell you that they will not be teaching from the textbook but that the exams will cover material and/or questions from the textbook

when the material is difficult, tricky, or lengthy and you need clarification, further explanation, or examples

when you miss a class

when you HAVE TIME to prepare for lectures in advance

when you feel that you actually learn and retain information better by reading the textbook

when NOT to read the textbook

when your profs teach from the textbook pretty much line by line

when your profs tell you that they will not be assessing you based on information from the text, but from their lectures

a strong implication of this is if your profs require lecture attendance

when you feel that reading the textbook does not help you learn or retain information

when you are constantly confused by the textbook (esp when it comes to calculation-based stem classes like math or cs)

when you have absolutely no time whatsoever to read pages after pages of bad academic puns

what you can do INSTEAD of reading the textbook

look at the course syllabus/schedule to see what you will learn in lecture. have an idea of what material you’ll be covering, then do the following steps.

check the course website/resources and ask yourself: what do you have to work with? are there lecture slides? lecture notes from previous semesters? online links or readings?

if one of the above exists, read the lecture slides/notes. they are usually much less text-intensive and get straight to the point. you can zip through them pretty quickly. you will at least have a basic understanding of the material that will be introduced in class.

google terms and concepts that you don’t understand from just reading the lecture slides. again, the idea is to get you to have a basic understanding of the material and not become an expert. this will help you avoid getting lost during the lecture.

if you’re still a little confused, read selected sections from the textbook that deal with the topic you need more help with. please don’t read the entire thing.

if there are no lecture slides or external resources to help you out, scan the textbook effectively.

how to SCAN textbooks effectively

read the chapter title and section headings

read the highlighted, bolded, or italicized terms and concepts, as well as their respective definitions in the content itself, the margins, and/or the index at the back

google the terms and concepts if you’re still confused

examine any charts, graphs, or flowcharts

examples and example questions can be helpful, so pay attention to those

real math isn’t like that at all.

When I was in college I decided to study economics, because I love people, and wanted to do something with it

I got amazing grades in my economics classes, and so my economics advisor took me aside one day and was like “I need to tell you something… economics? it’s bullshit. it’s all bullshit” ON GOD THESE WERE HIS WORDS HIS NAME IS NICK SLY AND THESE WERE HIS WORDS “if you want to do something with your life get your bachelors in mathematics, it will help you understand the world much better than any of this will. I’m not teaching anything of substance, if you want substance go to the mathematics department. I only tell students who genuinely care. The rest can get the degree.”

and I’m like “damn that’s pretty deep.”

so I go to the math department and I’m like “I want to study mathematics but I am bad at it.”

and this fucking old russian professor [arkady vaintrob] who learned how to prove shit in mathematics in third grade in soviet russia was like “None of us are good at mathematics. None of us will ever be good at mathematics. You should not do things just because you are good at them. You should do things that make you feel fulfilled. Even if you are bad at them they can help you in life.”

I’m still skeptical though, so I take some classes, and then I take some more classes, and the only people who claimed to be good at mathematics dropped the major, terrified of failure.

No one is good at mathematics, it is very difficult, we learn because it is wholesome. We learn because it helps us in life with other difficult things.

Please study math, all of you. It’s hard as fuck, it isn’t easy, it’s so fucking hard. I sobbed over studying mathematics and not understanding. It’s because I spent 13 years in the education system learning vapid trash, and had to unlearn that all… and it only took me 2 years to unlearn a lot of it … for it to help me in life forever more.

YOU CAN FIND THE ART OF PROBLEM SOLVING HERE ALLEGEDLY. I HAVENT LOOKED BUT I WILL LOOK. BUT IM TELLING YOU ALL. PLEASE DO YOURSELF THE FAVOR OF LEARNING SOME BASIC MATH. NOT FROM THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM BUT FOR YOURSELF FROM PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT MATHEMATICS AND TREAT IT SACREDLY. 

 Hi there! Long time no see. I am officially through my first term of organic chemistry (out of three), and I have gained some tips & tricks to make it a little bit more manageable! (I got a B, and I know that some people on studyblr are happier with an A but a B in my first upper division science is more than I was expecting so I’m happy about it!)

Get a molecular modeling kit!

The beginning portions of ochem ask you to understand nomenclature (naming), functional groups, isomers, and stereochemistry. Functional groups are what I feel like you could maybe muscle your way through without ever seeing it in 3D but for everything else, make sure you use a model! It helps tremendously when you’re trying to learn what molecules look like in space. I lost mine in a box halfway through the term (at the beginning of isomers, rip me) and felt so lost with stereochemistry until I found it again. Make mini models of all your functional groups and learn what they look like. Make cis & trans models. Do what my friends and I did and stick random things together and learn how to name them properly. I got mine from Amazon for about $12 and it was worth every penny.

Preview notes/book before class.

If you’ve ever met me, you know that I’m full of anxiety and hate reading before class because I get anxious when I realize I have no idea what I’m reading. Don’t be me! Realize that reading beforehand can only help you solidify your understanding when you relearn it in lecture! It is totally okay to not know it while you’re reading as you’ve obviously never learned it before. This comes in super helpful because there’s a lot to cover in lecture, lots of diagrams and molecules to draw, and you likely won’t have enough time to write out all of the good book-type words you want to know too.

Watch additional videos.

I would like to tell you the wonders of videos for ochem. Since it’s such a visual course, it is SO much more helpful to learn from a video than a book! Honorable mention for @ TheOrganicChemistryTutor and other ochem videos on YouTube, but the real shoutout goes to @ Leah4Sci on YouTube and at leah4sci.com As my lab partner texted me at 1:14 am the morning of our second exam, “This woman is a godsend.”

Study with a group (and a whiteboard!)

In gen chem I made an awesome group of friends who now suffer through ochem alongside me. You would not believe how helpful it is to study with them, explain hard concepts, and work out problems with other people. We reserve a room in our science library and get to working out problems on whiteboards. Highly highly recommend. Especially if you can reserve a room once a week to go over the week’s materials.

Use colors in your notes.

One of my best friends writes her notes in strictly pencil and as a pen gal, it hurts a little. I cannot keep track of anything at all if it’s written in one color and I smudge pencil really badly as a left-handed human. So, I write in pen and make sure that I have at least a highlighter and one colored pen on hand. The highlighter is to highlight important concepts and circle my nucleophile and electrophile at the beginning and ending of a reaction. The colored pen is to track electron flow.

Attend (and try to enjoy) lab if you’re taking it alongside lecture.

My lab partner is lowkey the best frat boy I have ever met and has always made sure that I don’t have to fly solo in lab like other lab partners have made me do, leaving me with all the work. About half way through the term we no longer worked with partners but we worked together during lab if one of us got stuck and would work on post-lab reports together because the questions were always insane. Lab is an amazing break from lecture and a wonderful way to apply what you’re learning. You’ll also meet a bunch of cool people in lab, and I highly suggest forming study groups with your lab partner or lab bench as you spend so much time together every week. 

Make a second notebook specifically for ochem!

You know how some people manage to make super beautiful notes during class? And if you’re anything like me you’re trying but mostly just scrambling to write down everything? If this rings true to you just know that I wholeheartedly get you. This is your chance to make your notes insanely pretty or colorful while also reviewing! I bought a composition notebook and I take about 2-3 pages to explain ONLY the important stuff from each chapter. This is my “cheat sheet” going into the test and you’ll usually find me looking over it the morning of my exams (because my exams are at 9am :( it’s rough out here).

I’ve been seeing this more and more recently and I finally asked about it on a french instagram page, getting so many different responses about its usage and meaning. I thought at first that it was passé composé with a typo, but it’s its own thing. So uhh what is it?

——

Avoir beau + infinitif is a very odd grammar point, requiring two parts to a sentence, and it translates to something like “to do something to no avail”, “try as we might”, or “to do something in vain”. Here’s an example to help understand it better:

« On a beau boire l’eau, la tasse reste pleine. »

“Try as we might to drink the water, the glass stays full.”

—

« J’ai eu beau essayer, je n’ai pas pu le faire. »

“No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t do it.”

————

So here you can see the structure « avoir beau + infinitif, une autre phrase complète » where it’s got two complete phrases joined by a comma. Notice also that avoir is the verb that gets conjugated.

Neige (n.f.)

Snow. The corresponding verb is “neiger”.

Hé, t’as de la neige dans les cheveux, c’est trop mignon.

Hey, you’ve got snow in your hair, that’s so cute.

Maman ne reviendra qu’après-demain, son train n’a pas pu circuler à cause de la neige sur les rails.

Mom will only be back the day after tomorrow, her train couldn’t run because of the snow on the rails.

Il va neiger demain, apparemment.

That sounds like an amazing opportunity, and I’m happy to hear you’re applying!

What they’re asking for is: Why do you want this? and Why do we want you?

The diversity card can be compelling, and you can use it if you feel that it fits into your story, but you’re right that it won’t carry your whole essay. Let’s brainstorm potential answers to both parts of the question:

Why do you want this?

to work on a specific project (or projects) that you saw on their brochure

I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’re looking at the Health Science Scholars (HSS) program, so this may be a good time to bring up your interests in the opioid epidemic or a topic that HSS students have worked on

to be surrounded by other passionate undergrads

to get mentoring from esteemed faculty

to gain practical skills (use examples)

to prepare for grad/med school

being part of a cohort, doing research and/or writing a thesis are all ways that this honors program is trying to prepare you for further education

to advance your career aspirations

what kind of healthcare practitioner or scientist do you want to be, and how does this program fit into that picture?

to get guidance on things you’re unsure about (e.g. you like the idea of being a researcher, but you’ve never done it before, and you’d love some guidance!)

Try to tell a story of yourself and how, through your interests and experiences, you’ve been leading up to joining a program like this. Use the program website to guide you in the specifics. The website will explain what the program is about and what they’ll do for you. Explain why you want what they’re offering.

Why do we want you?

Ask not (only) what the honors program can do for you, but what you can do for the honors program. Universities love to brag about their amazing students, and they want to invest in students who will be worth bragging about. Show them that you’re a perfect fit.

For this part you’ll want to use the program’s mission statement(s) to guide your essay. For HSS, there are three tenets (i.e. service, communication, and community) that they want to help students develop. Explain what skills and personal attributes you already have and can contribute to your peers and the university’s mission. What are your values, and how do they align with the values of the program and its participants? This is where you can play the diversity card (among the other cards in your hand).

Look through the honors webpages and the HSS website (or the site for the program you’re applying for; I’m just assuming it’s HSS). Pick out buzzwords and demonstrate that you have the attributes they’re looking for in an applicant. For example, if they’re looking for folks who are “highly motivated,” think of a clear example of how you’ve been highly motivated in your classes or outside of school. If you’re interested in any of their committees or other opportunities to get even more involved, mention those.

Glass is made of sand and earthbenders can bend sand (Book 2, Chapter 10, “The Library”) and furthermore earthbenders can bend the earth particles in metal (Book 2, Chapter 19, “The Guru”) so it stands to reason that they can bend the sand particles in glass. There is a question of whether or not they can still bend it because it is a very purified form of earth and another pure form of earth, platinum, is unbendable (LOK Book 1, Chapter 7, “The Aftermath”). However, when the sand is turned into glass it becomes crystalline (sand is mostly quartz particles after all) and we know earth benders can bend crystals (Book 1 Chapter 5 “The King of Omashu” when Bumi bends the creeping crystal).

Yes, airbenders can bend sound. This is shown when Aang bends sound by using his Appa whistle and extends the range of the sound (Book 2, Chapter 15, “Tales of Ba Sing Se”).