first year – semester two
This course review is just really depressing to write. After an excellent first semester (I was quite happy with my grades), this is when the burnout hit. Add in some good old seasonal depression, and I was quite the disaster this semester. It’s a miracle that I managed to pass anything. Reflecting on this time brings out some fear that the upcoming winter semester will also be like this, but I’m trying not to consider that.
Okay, well, let’s go through these courses one by one and really analyze what went wrong.
Calculus 2
The content wasn’t too terribly difficult, but I straight up didn’t try. The quizzes would be awful as I had no idea what was even going on in class. But the day before the final exam, I crammed the entire course, and passed the exam with flying colours.
Things I would do better next time: For the love of God, go to class and do practice questions. Actually keep up.
Challenging Topics: Volume of rotating (?) functions, disk vs washer vs cylindrical shell method
Physics 2
So, the physics course that I took in the fall was algebra-based, but this one was calc-based. You know why I took this one? Because the other one was at 8:30 in the morning, and I didn’t want to show up that early. But this class was so, so hard. I didn’t know what was going on most of the time.
Things I would do better next time: For the love of God, go to class and do practice questions. Actually keep up.
Challenging Topics: Everything. But especially, particle in a box and other quantization problems
Inorganic Chem 1
This was my favourite class this term. I loved the content, and it clicked really well for me. I still had to run through 500+ slides the day before the exam, but it was mainly memorization. Much better than organic chem…
Things I would do better next time: GO. TO. CLASS.
Challenging topics: Symmetry elements (what is it?), I tried my best, but I still don’t properly get it
Organic Chem 2
Buckle up everybody, because this class was the end of me. This was the first time in my life that my usual method of doing everything last minute and praying completely failed. You need to have good time management and study skills. I’m going to have to retake it next year D:
Things I would do better next time: Go to class, seriously. And do practice questions all the time, all day, everyday. This needs a lot of studying.
Challenging topics: Memorizing so many reactions and reagents, and planning synthesis problems out
Analytical Chem Lab
This class straight up gave me anger issues. I hated this lab so much, I didn’t like the prof, and I didn’t like the experiments. This course was all about accuracy, and the grading was really harsh. I’d made up my mind that if I failed it, I would switch my major. Unfortunately, I ended up passing.
Things I would do better next time: Try to be more accurate? I think I did as well as I could though, so it just pisses me off.
Challenging Topics: Accuracy, just being very careful and cautious in the lab
Looking back, it is amazing how I only have to redo one class. This semester made a dent in my GPA, but with some stellar work in the summer, I managed to resurrect it pretty well. Now the issue is, can I sustain it? Hopefully, yes.
I’ll be back soon to talk about the summer semester!
Until next time!
