#happyhemoglobin

Hi! I'm definitely a weird case bc I vaguely knew what I wanted to do going into uni and only switched majors once BUT i do know ppl who made dramatic changes or many small adjustments once they got to uni and it's absolutely okay!!

Depends on how uni in your country is designed but here in the US you have the option to be undeclared (i.e. exploring majors and not committing to one) or switch majors up to a certain amount of credit hours.

My suggestions are:

see if your interests converge. do you like your science classes, like helping others, and find random pimple popping videos on youtube interesting? maybe you'd like taking chemistry, health, anatomy, and forensic anthropology. or maybe you're into historical events, are a feminist, and like movies. maybe you could take gender studies with a focus on the feminist movement and feminist media! where these interests meet is where you'll find a passion. (for reference, i like science, helping others, public health, and lab work)

look at experiences outside of the classroom to determine your interests too! just bc you got an A in a subject in HS doesn't always mean you enjoyed it. maybe you got a D in physics but you really loved the logistics behind the NASA SpaceX launch!

go through your future uni (or a community college/uni close to you if you don't know where you're headed yet)'s course catalog/class schedule. pick out classes that interest you in the slightest. see which ones of those you could take your first term to help lead you down a path! my first term i took a nutritional anthropology class even though i knew nothing about it except that it seemed interesting and now I've taken 3 anthropology classes and enjoyed them! My friend enjoyed them so much she's getting an anthro minor!

remember you don't have to choose now.

if all else fails, the classes you take during your exploration can be used towards: general education requirements, electives, minors, etc. so don't worry too much so long as you're on track to graduate!

these are small things you can add to your day to be 10% more productive with the estimated time it'll take! these are things i do (or try to do) most days. they're small enough to feel manageable, and i for sure don't use all of them but i find that when i use at least 2-3 in a day i feel a lot better about the material.

retype notes in google docs (10-15 min/1 hour lecture)

Utilize pomodoro technique for at least one subject (25 min work/5 min break. total 30 min)

Look over notes before class (5 min)

Look over notes after class (5 min)

Make notecard summary after class (i find this one especially useful for calculus!) (10 min/notecard)

Explain short concept to a friend (10 min max)

write down to-do list of tasks (5 min)

Go over concepts in your head on your walk to class (absolute FAVORITE because of my daily calculus quizzes within the first 10 minutes of class) (as long as your walk is!)

when reading over notes and trying to understand something, use the phrase "and that should make sense because ... " and then provide reasoning as to why that is the way it is !

our ochem professor has been focusing a lot on making us not memorize but rather understand why things happen to be a certain way, and this is how I've been reviewing to make sure I understand these things!

So I'm a super visual learner. I love a good diagram, pretty notes, etc. But, I'm not great at utilizing this within my classes.

I'm currently taking a biology class that's mainly about systems but is kinda all over the place if I'm being honest. No one really likes that class because it's just a bunch of graphs and diagrams you have to decipher and determine what's going on within them.

I'm struggling with it a bit but today I figured out what works for me to understand certain concepts and thought I'd share them with you!

These are my pointers for using whiteboards (either at home or at the library) to study.

Draw a system out once with a reference.

For me, this was my professor's videos, where he also draws it out and comments about the various parts. From this, I took out what I considered important and redrew it in a way that made a bit more sense to me.

Always include a title & labels.

I'm aware this sounds silly but you'd be surprised how many times I'm studying with others in the library and we don't label and graph while doing homework and we're like "what was that graph referring to?" The title especially can help you with that next step which is...

Make sure you draw it in a way that can be transferred over to your notes easiest.

It's all good and well to draw out something wonderful on a whiteboard but copying it down is sometimes the worst! You might not have enough space or colors or paper. Plan ahead for that if you can.

Utilize colors if you can memorize what color corresponds to what. If you can't, don't overdo the colors!

Colors can just be hit or miss if I'm being honest. My general rule of thumb is one colored pen & one colored highlighter (usually of the same color) within my notes. With whiteboards you can be more adventurous, but make sure you're able to transfer to your notes with the colors you choose or else you might be left wondering why you remembered that K+ is orange but you drew it in blue.

Draw the system out twice without references.

Two words. Muscle. Memory! This will help you solidify it and make sure you can replicate it from memory on an exam. I would also definitely plan to draw it out before your test if you can.

Take (and save) a picture!

There's two really good reasons for this. One is so that you can post it to your studyblr, obviously. Second is so you can reference it later on if you get stuck redrawing it!!

July 28th and July 29th - How do you stay motivated to study during the summer? Have you done or are you planning to do any activities (such as work experience, summer schools, or watching lectures) other than normal work during the summer?

Last summer when I took classes, I stayed motivated by setting specific work times (usually in the mornings) and then rewarding myself with Youtube and Netflix, visiting friends or my bf at the time, etc afterwards! This summer has been more difficult, but I’ve been watching a lot of study with me’s and med student videos to keep myself excited about learning.