HOW TO STUDY A WEEK BEFORE AN EXAM

It should come as no surprise that investigations have shown that many for-profits do in fact target low-income people who can’t pay. These people areoften minorities.

Steve noticed the same thing at his school: “Most of my students made minimum wage, and over half were black. Every one of my students had a loan, and it’s all they ever talked about. Some felt strong-armed into them, but some wanted them. They lived off of them. They wanted the loans as another source of income because they couldn’t make ends meet with their regular jobs. They took a few classes to keep up appearances, but I would always know why they were really there. Every college has these students, but at my college, I had several in every class I taught. I never knew what happened to them after the semester and they were 20 or 40 grand in debt. Many struggled to make ends meet, and the college offered an easy way to get loans. What did you think was going to happen?”

For-profit universities vastly prefer loans – and the long-term, interest-bearing income they generate – to straight cash payments. So much so that they often don’t take cash: “One student in particular told me that she had $20,000 from an inheritance in cash, but ran into roadblocks everywhere. My college wouldn’t accept cash, so she tried a check. They told her they couldn’t, since they had too many issues with bounced checks. She then tried paying online in full, but she was told she shouldn’t because ‘What if you decide to drop a class? Would you still want to pay for it?’ She then tried monthly payments, but she was informed she was too late to sign up. She could only take a loan.”

I Teach At A For-Profit College: Here’s Why It’s A Scam

This is a picture of a human brain that is entirely smooth – free of the ridges and folds so characteristic of our species’ most complex organ. The patient had a rare condition called agyria; a lack of gyri and sulci, the ridges and folds formed by the normally wrinkled cerebral cortex. This disorder often leads to death before the age of ten, and can cause muscle spasms, seizures and a range of learning difficulties due to the considerably reduced surface area of the brain.

Promo for promo

i cannot stress this enough

if you are an eligible voter in the US this coming election and bernie sanders does not have the democratic nomination

you. have. to. vote. for. hillary.

i am not fucking messing around

i am not gonna sit here while you write in names or go on some fucking strike. hillary is not on the same level as donald trump. all of you who act like that’s a hard choice are ridiculous. you vote for hillary clinton if she gets the primary. if you don’t, you give trump the presidency. clear and simple. normally i would not advocate against writing in names, but at this point writing in names would take away from hillary’s vote if she is the nominee–EVEN IF YOU WRITE IN BERNIE SANDERS, YOU GIVE TRUMP A HIGHER CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY, AND YOU DON’T WANT THAT.

not even a year ago y’all were laughing about donald trump. don’t fuck this up. in no world is hillary clinton as bad as donald trump.

Study Tips

- Eat before you study.

- Have a small healthy snack with you whilst studying (just in case hunger strikes).

- Prepare a large, clean workplace.

- Prepare everything you will need before sitting down to study (pencils, computer, notes, etc.)

- Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

- Put some music on quietly.

- Take breaks. I usually do it in durations of 25 minutes studying, then a 5 minute break and then I repeat that as many times as needed.

- Always write down definitions of important words!

- If you don’t understand something underline it in red and ask the teacher next time you see them.

- Always stay updated with the news.

- Research, research, research.

- Read over your notes.

- Don’t overcomplicate your note taking or it will end up confusing you.

- Keep it simple.

People with and without federal student loans please check this out!!

Ok so I want to tell you guys about this project I found out about called Givling! It’s basically a trivia game website that benefits people with student loans! 

The way it works is people make an account for free which secures their spot in the list of people involved in the site. Then people pay 50 cents a game to play. If you have federal student loans and you’re next on the list then you provide them with proof of your loans and they start raising money from all the people  playing to pay off your loans. Once your loans are paid off then they go to the next person in line. If you don’t have loans then you can sell your spot in line or give it away. So far it looks like this is legit and it’s really exciting! They haven’t been around long so they just recently paid off the loan of the first person on the list and are a third of the way through the second person on the list. The also do daily money giveaways of much smaller amounts as extra incentive for people to play the game and help raise loan paying funds!

Please check this out and play if you want and do your own research if you are worried about the legitimacy of this project! Below is the link to the website, the group’s facebook page, and a few articles I found about it. So far I haven’t found anything bad about it and everything points to it being legit so please support or promote if you can!

Givling site:

https://givling.com/givling/

Givling facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Givling?fref=ts

Articles about Givling:

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/online-game-thatll-help-pay-off-student-debt/

http://college.usatoday.com/tag/givling/

http://www.businessinsider.com/online-gamers-are-helping-people-pay-off-their-student-debt-2015-7

http://www.psfk.com/2015/03/givling-gamifying-paying-off-student-loans-paying-college-debt.html

Things I learned during my first year of medical school

I cannot believe I’ve finished my first year of medical school already! Wow! 

Warning: long Parks and Rec gif-filled post ahead (90% of these are cheesy but I am pizza levels of cheesy when I’m reflecting):

1. Do your thing

The first semester of med school was a weird time of looking and seeing what other people were doing to study and wondering if I needed to do that too. 

I wondered, should I get a bunch of colored highlighters? Make a million flashcards? Am I behind because I haven’t studied that lecture yet? Should I stream instead of go to class because that’s what other people are doing?

My advice? Try new things out but once you figure out what works for you, don’t be afraid to stick to it. Some people found out that they study best in groups. I found out I study best by myself. I don’t like highlighting but I do like writing down things I need to know in a spiral so I can review/remember them better. I also like doing as many practice questions as I can get my hands on. I like going to class and taking notes on my computer. 

I didn’t know any of that until I got here. And that’s okay. But don’t stress about what other people are doing - you’ll find what works for you. 

2. Don’t try to study 24/7 

Seriously. Don’t. It’s not worth it. You’ll burn out and realize you could have been more relaxed and focused if you took a break. I try to take a couple minutes of break every hour and a bigger break every few hours whenever I’m studying. I also try to take at least one day off per weekend and do something fun (even if it’s small). I also know I study best during the day so I usually take the evenings off as well unless it’s like crunch time. 

3. Investing in dress clothes is a good idea

Inevitably, you’ll forget that you have yet another clinical skills class that requires white coat attire (aka business casual) and only remember last minute, without time to do laundry. It’s way less stressful if you have a few possible outfits. Even easier? If you wear dresses, get some nice professional dresses. Nothing better than only picking a single thing out of your closet to wear! Also, along with that, make sure you have dress shoes that fit and are comfortable. I learned that I need to break in new flats sometimes before I wear them or I will get really bad blisters. 

4. Laughter is the best medicine

As cliche as it sounds, I could not have gotten through this year without laughing. Laughing with new friends, laughing at ridiculous situations, laughing at silly gifs posted in our med school’s FB group specifically created for that purpose (it’s the best, highly recommend. Our class has 3 facebook groups - one for class announcements/club things, one for study materials, and one for laughing. The silly one was started by an MS2 (now MS3 I suppose!)). Laughing is seriously therapeutic for stress. Also some of my classmates just happen to be hysterically funny. Also A+ to tumblr for keeping me giggling. Also, Broad City (put it on your list of shows to watch!) 

5. The days are long but the weeks/months are short

I still cannot believe it is May and I’m already done. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to reflect on my experiences on my tumblr so I can remember them (because sometimes it feels like my memories are getting squeezed out to make room for new knowledge). Journaling here allowed me to process this year in a way that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I would highly recommend it to anyone about to start school (of any kind!). 

6. Make new friends but keep the old

Yes, I am quoting a Girl Scouts song. Because it’s true. I am so very thankful for the technology that has allowed me to (try to) keep up with my college friends. Life is busy for all of us but it’s always nice to chat with old friends (and hang out, location permitting!) Also my med school class is filled with the most amazing people and it’s been so fun getting to know them :) I love my girls so much, they truly are my ride or dies. Med school is quite a bonding experience.

7. You’ll do things you never imagined you could

For me, that was anatomy and clinical skills. I was a bit nervous about dissecting and the whole experience but I was pleasantly surprised. It was not as weird as I thought it would be. In clinical skills, I was terrifyingly nervous about standardized patients and being filmed and getting feedback and learning how to do all the exams. We all got through it and now I feel much more comfortable. There are still hard days (like a couple of weeks ago) but I am not as nervous. I also learned how to do the male GU exam and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. 

 I also can’t believe that I went from knowing nothing to taking a history and doing a physical on a real patient all by myself AND presenting them to my preceptor. I still have a ton to learn and say stupid stuff sometimes but it feels like I’m on the right track. 

8. While sometimes first year feels like this:

You’ll have moments where you feel like

And one last bonus lesson:

Can that be the medblr motto? Also shoutout to medblr for being such an amazing and supportive community. Could not have gotten through this year without y’all!!!! 

Congratulations to all the other first years who are finishing up school or already done :) And welcome medblr class of 2020!!! So excited for y’all. 

Topics from A-level that are used lots in a Maths degree:

Note: This is just based on my experience of degree and A-level Maths and Further Maths. At degree I studied mostly applied mathematics and statistics/probability so this is based on that.

Differential Equations

These are particularly important in applied mathematics. I don’t think I’ve taken an applied module without them. If you haven’t done them in A-level, they are covered extensively in first year. 

Differentiation/Integration

Also key to applied mathematics, but also in probability and statistics. Methods are covered in first year too. Oh and in analysis too, but that tends to look at calculus in a new light. 

Matrices

These are everywhere. Particularly multiplying them, taking the inverse, eigenvalues and eigenvectors (these are in everything - even statistics), Diagonalisation comes up a bit too (probability, statistics). 

Vectors

Mostly the scalar product and vector product (these are everywhere). Not so much the geometry. Kinda like M2 where you have 3D motion, finding x, v and a etc. Most things become multi-dimensional as the degree progresses so just kinda know what a vector means.

Polar Co-ordinates

Loads of them in applied maths, but converting between Cartesians and Polars is probably the main thing from A-level Further Maths. I can’t really remember what is covered in FP2 but yeah. Most of the stuff at degree is new. 

Exponentials/Logarithms

How could I forget these??? I’d advise being really fluent with them because you’re kind of expected to know the log rules and converting between exponentials and logarithms. You were on my course anyway. Also the graphs of them are pretty important. 

Hypothesis Tests

If you’ve done S2 then lots of Statistics at degree is based around hypothesis testing. It’ll all be taught from scratch in first year but yeah. And it’s probably less confusing when you do it at degree. 

Complex Numbers

Just knowing how to manipulate really. They come up every now and again. Not to the extent that they do in FP2. 

Curve Sketching

Lecturers love putting this in exams because they know we hate it. I can’t remember doing a lot of it in A-level though, but yeah practise drawing trig functions and logs/exponentials and quadratics/cubics. 

Trig

Mostly just being fluent with trig identities because it’s another thing you’re just expected to be able to use when needed. Cos2x is a particularly good one to know. Hyperbolic trig also comes up. But really just knowing the exponential form because lecturers seem to love putting it in questions. 

Obviously it depends on what modules you take. At Notts you can take optimisation, game theory and graph theory in third year which follows on from Decision. Pure Maths is pretty much all new (I think OCR MEI FP3 has some group theory though). 

The main thing is to pay attention to first year because most of it is methods and skills that will be needed in second year. I mean, some of first year you’ll never touch again in your final years but yeah, most of it is useful. 

Also don’t worry if you haven’t done Further Maths. From my experience the content from Further Maths was covered at a relatively slow pace and at first you may have to work harder than people who did do FM, but you’ll catch up really quickly. 

here’s 23 uni specific rules to help u out 4 future: 

rule n1: no zero days - never have a day where you do no uni work even if u just do 5 minutes no zero days no excuses 

rule n2: never miss tuts or lectures unless u r dying uni culture is great but u gotta get the d(egree) or its 4 nuthin alotta lectures are recorded so even if u can’t physically be there schedule a time to listen and treat it like a proper lecture

rule n3: spend 15-20 minutes doing work for each of your classes everyday (I do this in the morn when I get up) 

rule n4: replace your phone with ur readings take your readings with you on public transport and when u go to the toilet (srsly its weird but I do most of my readings there because I have nothing else to do) 

rule n5: be 2 days ahead, pretend everything is 2 days before it actually is so you’re prepared 

rule n6: go to bed before midnight for uni days always

rule n7: start all assignments 2 weeks before they’re due 

rule n8: never start anything after 9pm its better to wake up early when ur brain is rested

 rule n9: your brain associates places with actions so don’t study anywhere like your bed, have set spaces or go the quiet section of the library

rule n10: to do lists are your best pals write and review at the start and end of each day, make lil rewards 4 yourself when u complete them 

rule n11: help out other peeps with assignments, uni isn’t like school ur not competeing for ranks so everyone can help each other. it helps you focus, sometimes means you don’t have 2 buy text books and you know you know something if you can teach it to others 

rule n12: limit social media times i know its hard but u gotta 

n13: reward yo self and always look forward to things (this will keep you sane) but dont reward yurself fo nuthin 

n14: TURN OFF YOUR PHONE WHEN U R STUDYING OR PUT IT OUT OF REACH GODAMN U CAN TWEET LATER

rule n15: get your sleep (so your brain can sort shit) but don’t nap all day (your brain will get lazy af), eat at least one vegetable and 2 proper meals, never skip breakfast and take a multi vitamin there are cheap ones

rule n16: schedule the use of your freetime between and outside classes (see rules 7 and 5)

rule n17: project guternberg has heaps of books for free if your doing lit courses so check there before you buy things

rule n18: be strict on yourself, but not hard, you might be your own worst enemy somedays but you’re also you’re the only person who won’t give up on you

rule n19: plan your essays/assignments according to the marking rubric NOT the assignment question

rule n20: read your course outline and know who your professors/tutors are if u need help they are your bros

rule n21: ALWAYS ASK IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND bruh you are literally in class cos you want to be there and learn stuff its not school where u gotta be there and u dont wanna ask questions so you’ll look cool like you are there to learn so do it and dgaf what anyone thinks of u but also don’t be a dick and try 

rule n22: try and say one thing during class discussions and never leave a class without 3 dotpoints written down

rule n23: learn to say no bruh i get it you wanna go to that party cos if you dont ur mate will be pissed but guess what pal u have an assignment u gotta finish due tomorrow and lets face it thats gotta happen so say no because there will always be parties but you wont always get marks you lost back

What's it like to pay $250/week to student loan?

While in theory this is awesome, in actuality it’s not all that easy.

We used to pay the monthly minimum of $420 because that’s what we could afford then. Life situation improved, so we increased the monthly payments to $500. Further life improvements and sacrifices later, it was up to $600.

Then I thought “Why not pay $150/week?”. We made the leap and have been paying weekly since summer of 2013. Two years running now.

Where are we now?

Still in debt! We started getting aggressive and jumped from $150/week to $250/week in September 2014. Some weeks we had more to pay, sometimes as much as $300/week.

As for parting with money, monthly or weekly doesn’t make much of a difference. Paying debt is paying debt. We’re bound to pay the student loan no matter what anyway. We stake no claim in the money owed to the lender though it’s packaged as paycheck–money that should’ve been ours.

But if I stop and ponder on this, it’s overwhelming. No matter the frequency, the amount overwhelms me. All of that hard-earned cash slips from our hands. I’m angry. I’m resentful. It’s not because I could use the money to buy something because I don’t think like that. It’s because a significant number of my youth years is spent on working to pay debt.

What can $250/week do for my family? A lot. It could be used to invest more in retirement, invest more in my kid’s 529 Plan, toward our goal to be landlords, on traveling, on improving our home…I could go on and on. However, the primary reason I’m angry and resentful is because it’s lengthening my work years and shortening my investing life.

I can’t stand catching up. Much as I like the challenge, everyone gets burnt out from constant challenges thrown their way. I’ve been at this for nearly 8 years. It’s time to retire this challenge. I’m exhausted–of working, of being angry and of being resentful.

Don’t get me wrong. I like being productive and I like my job a lot, but I’d want to be in a state of simply enjoying it and the benefits/paychecks that come with it.

I sound like like an ingrate sometimes. Imagine how many people struggle to even make ends meet, much less pay their debts? And what about the students who just graduated with 5- or 6-digit student loans? They’re just about to enter into the world of bondage, and yet we’re nearing the end. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter. I should be at least happy that we are able to make a minimum of $250/week. Not per month but per week!

So what’s it truly like to part with $250 each week?

It has become a way of life for us, like mortgage, grocery and utilities, but more than that it’s:

like having a bear for a pet that we need to feed a lot.

like owning and driving 2 gas guzzling cars everyday.

like living in the posh side of town paying twice our mortgage and property tax.

like eating out everyday for dinner.

like having 2 infants in daycare for 8 years.

None of the above applies to us. We only have 1 small dog who eats once a day some days. We have a 15-year old car that only costs us $80/mo on gas at most. We have a small house in a not-posh neighborhood. We don’t eat out for dinners weekly even. We only have 1 child who’s in grade school now.

Having and paying debt is living a frugal (or poor, if that’s more applicable) lifestyle for the price of a posh one. It hurts and it sucks.

Our debt is now in the $12k mark. What a long way from the $40-thousands. I’m setting aside investing for the rest of this year to focus entirely on this. I’m giving my final effort to decimate it, so that I can finally focus on investing to shorten my working years and to finally live a frugal lifestyle–not only because we’re forced to but because we want to.