Share For Share

Basic Types of Student Loans

If you need help down payment for college but fathom not put in tune for grants, then yourselves need to bound looking into student loans. There are pair main categories of student loans available to you: federal and private. Under each category there are several different long-term loan types. Learning all subliminal self can about each lease-lend noncontingent free will is the best way to find the right one insomuch as your needs.

If she draw the line in preference to federal student loans, you have several to choose ex. The antecedent is the Stafford Loan. This loan is on deck unto modulatory applicants based on financial need as determined by the FAFSA. Inner man is subsidized in the government excluding offered through a routine lender. Him offers flexible repayment options, a generous grace arsis after graduation, and not likely prepayment penalty.

The Perkins Unsecured loan is another constitutional loan privilege. It is self-acting to students with exceptional monetary need. One benefit of this loan is its low interest rate. Like the Stafford Loan, they has a knightly grace burden.

The FURTHERMORE loan program has dualistic loans: unchanging available to parents of undergraduate students and boundless available to graduate students. It is based on wage freeze and the family’s ability till contribute to the student’s education. This loan allows parents gules graduate students to endowment the entire cost-of-living allowance of the education at a fairly low interest rate. Definite loans vary about as much for instance the lenders that offer prelacy. Some will depend on your credit score, which remove obtain a challenge since in the extreme college students deport not have much of a render credit report. One commonly used loan is the Signature Philologist Loan. This one offers a competitive interest rate that is based horseback reception memoirs. Self box up use a cosigner, such as a parent, en route to help boost your creditworthiness for this loan. Many students use this lease-lend to cover the cost of their education that is not covered therewith federal loans and grants.

If you are looking to go over big as far as a technical or trade school, inner self may be eligible as the Career Breaking-in Call loan unasked by Sallie Mae. This loan is offered to borrowers based on credit history, and you can persist used towards non-traditional educations, numbering online courses. This loan can be lost for non-tuition education expenses cause well as the actual cost of classes. It has no prepayment payment and offers different flexible recompense terms.

Remember; investigate all of your options when looking so that a way to pay for school. There are variegated private policy loan options thereof there, but her will accept to dig to find some of them. Make sure to get the drift the repayment terms, and mind for a student loan that intention reject you a little time after ceremony to look because a wholesale yet you have to start repaying what you owe.

Albert Einstein on reality, rationality, and harnessing our human “passion for comprehension” 

HOW TO STUDY A WEEK BEFORE AN EXAM

Day 7

List out all your topics, and highlight those you are least familiar with. I also love listing out the resources/materials I have to study. 

You should start reading and annotating the materials you are unfamiliar with.

Day 6

If you have not started making notes at all, it wouldn’t be wise to start making notes now. 

Instead, try to annotate things, write down explanations next to the things that you don’t understand, or definitions that you think can be elaborated.

Remember to be exam-oriented. Don’t spend time on things that are very trivial, or things that won’t be covered in the exam anyways.

At this stage, you should be focusing on annotating and enhancing your understanding of the materials.

Day 5

You should make sure you have most of your notes ready and that you have digested everything.

If you haven’t done a summary card, you should probably do it at this stage. This is a great way to consolidate your information.

Get a bunch of index cards. Write out the title of each chapter on each card.

Write the outline of the chapter. Alternatively, you can make a question attack plan for each chapter.

Turn over and write down some key terms that you don’t know. Or, you can write down some common mistakes, formulas etc, depending on your subject.

Day 4

With 4 days left, you should start memorizing things now. Focus on spellings and key terms. 

By memorizing, you can do the following:

Read the notes out loud, and repeat them by not looking at the paper (this is the way I personally use!)

Try to memorize, and cover the sheet and rewrite everything

Teach yourself, or to an audio recorder, or to a friend

Draw a mindmap without looking at your notes.

Day 3

You should go for some practice questions by chapter. 

You may also try to complete the exercises at the back of the chapter in your textbook. 

Don’t just do the practice question and throw them away. Make full use of it:

Check the answer. Find out what you failed to get right and failed to write down on the answer paper.

Understand your mistake. Understand why you make the mistake, and how you can avoid it.

Take notes of your misunderstanding and mistakes (as well as the correct answers). This will help you to avoid making the same ones.

Day 2

Repeat what you have done on day 3. 

Some teachers may also offer some mock papers or practice papers, or you may also try to complete past papers here. 

Day 1

You should do your very last review here. You should make sure you read through the following this day:

Your summary cards

Your notes

The notes you have made while doing the practice questions and papers

If your exam involves some formulas or difficult keywords or definitions, you may need to memorize them again this day.

Day 0

Now that’s everything. With all the preparation above, you should be very confident since you have got everything covered! All you have to do is to take a good breakfast and focus during the exam! Good luck!

For more details, check out the article on Students Toolbox!

For more updates of Students Toolbox and Strive-for-da-best, make sure to follow my Facebook- Instagram -Twitter -Pinterest- Bloglovin!

University life

Hello!

No one will probably read this but I’ll write it anyways.

Big news: I GOT IN UNIVERSITY! ONE OF THE BEST IN RIO DE JANEIRO!

I was approved in 3 universities, 2 publics and a private one. I choose the public one near my house (because it’s free). I’m not gona explain how is the process to get in a university here because it’s confusing, if anyone really wants to know send me a message.

That’s the reason I disappeared. I graduated from my technical school (yay), I’m doing my internship and university at the same time. So this means I have zero time left hahaha. My major is chemical engineering and it’s a 5 year course. I’m loving university so far, I’ve already been to a party and I love it. 

Now that I’m studying again I’ll try my best to update this blog because I love the community so much! That’s it!

xx, Mariana

What studying Maths at uni is like:

1. Very different to A-level. There is more emphasis on proof, theorems and definitions so expect to be learning these lots. Even in modules like Probability and Statistics, not just Pure. 

2. What is called Further Pure at A-level is not actually much like Pure maths at all. So if you’ve got a module with Pure in the title, don’t expect it to be second order ODEs, polar coordinates and complex numbers. It’s very much here’s a definition, here’s a theorem, here’s how to prove it (from my little experience of it). 

3. Very algebra heavy. There are lots of questions that take a lot of rearranging and it gets very messy at times. Don’t be afraid of messy algebra, attack it.

4. Things start to become multidimensional. Like, most integration becomes stuff like surface and volume integrals. In my course I started multiple integrals in first year an then began applying them in second year. Even Statistics uses vectors more than scalars as you progress through the years. 

5. There is a lot more focus on how you write maths. It’s like a language in itself. You can get a correct answer and still lose marks because you’ve used = instead of ~ or not connected your working with implication symbols. It gets easier as time passes. 

6. You’ll have a variety of lectures (lecturer talks at you), problems classes (you work on problems with help from postgrad students and the lecture), examples classes (lecturer works through practise questions on whiteboard/projector) and tutorials (small group working through pre-completed questions with a tutor). From my experience, examples classes are more useful than lectures and problems classes are best when you’ve done the questions beforehand so you can get help on what you’re stuck on right away.

7. You probably won’t enjoy all of it. Most people enjoy either Applied, Pure or Probability/Statistics. Myself, I hated Pure. Some people love it. You can drop what branch you don’t like after first year. 

8. It is stressful. The modules contain A LOT more content than A-level modules. It is difficult. Especially after first year when all of the stuff you’re learning is new. But it is manageable. 

9. It is tiring. Having to concentrate in lectures for (about 22 hours in first year, 20 in second year, 12 in third year…) a week is hard. And then going back to halls/house and doing more work makes it harder. 9ams are difficult to get up for even though at school you probably did it every day with no problem. 

10. It is satisfying. The best thing about it is being able to solve a problem you never dreamed you could do. That is rewarding. It makes it worth it. 

If anyone wants to chat about maths at uni, feel free to send me a message. I’ve only done a BSc but have a few friends doing an MMath so I know a fair bit about it. 

100 Days Of Productivity: Day 4

Mere seconds ago I posted my DAY 3 post due to my productivity lag; I manage to get so much done during the day that I dont have time to write these reflections on the same day!

I am planning to get a head start on the remaining stuff left to do today which only involves going for a run and going to see friends; therefore this is sort of already the end of my productive day. The above picture is from a math lesson which I had today from 08:30 till 10, a lesson I usually spend with my head on the desk, occasionally mumbling a muffled ‘’meh’’ when asked how I’m feeling. Instead of the usual moan and groan morning routine I instead decided to switch up on the lack of sleep and just go with it; it ended up being really cool as I understood almost everything (apart from some things on the paper above, as you can see by the number of lines drawn through things) and felt really motivated. Later that day during triple biology I laso decided to change up my attitude as I had spent yesterday’s lesson sleeping for 1.5 hours and completely missing out on everything that happened during the lesson. I totalled roughly 4 pages of written stuff where I usally give up after the first page and proceed to go on tumblr or do something completely pointless with my time. Once into the late afternoon (now) I can feel the energy and motivation start to dwindle, which is why I am writing this day 4 post on day 4 (a personal first). 

So if anyone ever does read these, thanks for reading and stay posted for more posts relating to CAS or anything productivity related!

This has been a thing for a little while, but it certainly bears repeating! If you can get the certification (that’s definitely the trick here), it can work for some private loans too.

Tips for Job Interviews:

So people are graduating high school/college and I thought it would be a good idea to compile a list of solid interview tips so you’re not only surviving on that MSG Ramen diet.

1.) Research: Know at least a little about what position you are applying for. Sounds obvious, I know. But I mean about the company or organization itself. You’re applying at Subway? Know a little bit about the company’s history or what a Sandwich Artist is.  Applying at a store? Know that clientele that frequent the store, etc. Applying for a desk position at a college? “I was amazed at the new addition to the library and the dedication to student life and improvement just stood out to me that this is a university driven towards student success and something I would be proud to be a part of and strive for.” It’s like giving the hiring manager a high-five. Says why you chose them. Make them feel desirable in interesting to you.

2.) How to dress:  When it doubt, always overdress. Nobody is gonna not hire you because you wore a nice suit to a gas station cashier interview. You’ll be taken more seriously than the khaki shorts and white t-shirt you were wearing to that cookout yesterday. Not sure what colors to look for? Black is your safest bet. Black and white are neutral if you have absolutely no clue. Pro tip:  If you listened to number one and know the color of the uniform, try and incorporate that into you clothing selection because it helps hiring managers to see you like their co-workers. (e.g., If you’re applying at a hospital where the unit wears, say, maroon scrubs, try wearing a maroon top or tie.)

3. Behavioral Questions: It’s inevitable. Most jobs are going to give you a series of behavioral questions to gauge you as a person. It is what will divide you from other candidates. What’s a behavioral question? Here’s some examples: “Name a time when you provided exceptional customer service”, “Describe an instance when you had to resolve a problem/confront a coworker/maintain professionalism”, etc. Come PREPARED to name instances. Have about 3-5 in mind and get ready to tweak any of them to fit the frame of the question. Practice speaking in the mirror, to a friend, record yourself etc. But practice saying it out loud because you don’t want to stumble. (InterviewStream is a helpful website!) Answer completely! Explain how your response fits the mold through the story. Tell how you felt at the time and the outcome of what happened. It’s to figure out you as a person. (e.g. “I did ___ for a customer/client/patient/whatever. They were having suchandsuch issue and while what I did was so mundane, it really made their day. It was something that comes so naturally to me that I didn’t realize the impact it would make and it felt good to provide a service that wasn’t simply a run-of-the-mill thing we normally did working for ___). You feel me?

4. Critical Thinking Questions: Some jobs may present you with critical thinking questions the require pause for thought. An example for if you were, say, a nurse: “You have four patients. One with pyelonephritis and no signs of infection, one with a fractured femur with no pain, one with a fractured hip and leg who is leaving tomorrow, and one with diabetes mellitus and an open wound ulcer. A PCA tells you the the fractured hip patient has a blood pressure of 90/60 but says she feels fine, the charge nurse informs you that your pyelonephritis patient is having difficulty breathing and is sat at 89%, another PCA tells you your DM patient is difficult to arouse, and your fractured femur patient is screaming that he is rating his pain a 9/10 and is disturbing other patients. What do you do, who is your priority, and what is your plan of care?” A tad overwhelming. The interviewer is looking at you, you’re processing your options, there’s a lot going on. Take a breath. It’s OKAY TO ASK FOR A MINUTE TO THINK. IT’S NOT A TIMED EXAM! Voice your thoughts! Give complete responses. Even if saying “I would take vitals” sounds OBVIOUS, still say it. Go through your thoughts out loud because you may forget something that speaking it aloud could help. “I would take vitals” would lead to “I would perform an assessment” to “by listening to her lungs and taking his glucose” etc.

5. Body Language: Be open! Have your body turned towards your interviewer, look him/her in the eyes when you respond to a question, smile, nod, do not interrupt, sit up straight, know what you’re doing with your hands and feet (e.g. if you’re a chronic knuckle-cracker/hand rubber, fidgeter, etc.). Body language is one of the most helpful ways an interviewer can gauge your interest.

6. Strengths and Weaknesses: Strengths are easy. Everyone can come up with a good strength (Flexible, self-starter, love constructive criticism, love to learn, great team worker, etc.). Weaknesses though? Weaknesses are tricky. Rule number one: DON’T BE THAT DOUCHE THAT SAYS SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF “I work too hard” because nobody is impressed. But don’t also say something like “I am not a morning person” because what if they need you for mornings? No. Find a sweet-spot. Find a weakness that can be improved and isn’t a mere personality trait. Explain the weakness and how you have worked to improve it in the past and what has been effective. (e.g. I have issues with time-management. I have learned to get tasks done as soon as they are delegated to me rather than putting them off. or I have learned to prioritize which tasks will be the most time-consuming and which can be handled quicker so that all of the tasks get effectively completed.)

7. “What are your long-term goals/how long do you plan on staying here/where do you see yourself in x years”: Ah. Do I confess to McDonald’s that I have no intention on making a career out of this and that I only want to work here for the summer and risk not getting the job? Hell no. Don’t lie but don’t be completely truthful either. Keep it open-ended. If you intend on using this job for a bit of cash, have something else in mind as your end-game, or plan on using this job as a stepping-stone, that’s just fine. But don’t go on record as saying something like “Oh I intend on working here for a few years” because you know you’re lying. Say something to the tune of “For as long as I can/am able”. Be creative in your phrasing. Unless they ask you to specifically name an amount of time, variations of that response tend to work. Important thing to note is WATCH WHAT YOU SAY HERE. If you want to go far in the company, say that you want to pursue leadership opportunities and such. Do NOT say “I don’t want to just be a ____” because that is condescending and rude. 

7. “Do you have any questions for me?”: ALWAYS. HAVE. QUESTIONS. Always have them! Even if it is something that you already know about, ask. Here are some go-to questions I have for interviews “Are there any leadership opportunities available?” “How long is orientation?” “Are there more ways for me to become involved or any committees I can join?” Having questions shows INTEREST. 

Feel free to add more tips, people!

3 SUPER QUICK STUDY TIPS

1. Everyone is different, but find a good rhythm to study in. What I mean is find a good time increment to study in, and a good time increment for breaks. For me, I like to study in 45 minute bursts and take 15 minute breaks. 

Note that it doesn’t have to be constant. Sometimes I’ll plug away for two hours and then run for an hour. There isn’t a set technique that works for 100% of the population, so you do you ☺

2. Stretch!!! This is important not just for exercise but for studying as well. Stretch before, stretch during, stretch after. Especially if you’re sitting on your butt for a while. This will be good for your joints, and also to get your blood pumping when you can’t break out and exercise.

3. Have snacks and water. Keep the snacks minimally messy, or eat with utensils so that you don’t make a mess all over your notes/textbook/laptop. Snacking healthily will help with metabolism and with keeping your focus on what you’re studying, NOT on food.

1: please for the love of god wash your hands. do foley care. check your IV lines. these things can seriously screw up a person.

2: most of the people sitting next to you the first semester won’t be there towards the end. people fall behind, people switch to other majors, people leave. 

3: your clinical group will become like a family. that means there will probably be at least one person in the group you won’t like, but you still have to help them out. and they will probably help you out too.

4: some people will gripe and be angry no matter what. you don’t need to get caught up jn their drama.

5: consider clinical experiences a job. every time you step on the floor or the unit, you are basically at a job interview.

6: some teachers will want to go above and beyond to help you out. some will not.

7: study everyday! seriously. even if you can only spare 30 minutes, use those 30 minutes. and don’t forget to look back over previous material even after the exam is over. focus on areas that gave you trouble.

8: get an NCLEX app or book and do practice questions. this will help so much when it comes to some of those crazy exam questions you really need to think through.

9: pay attention in class, even during those long lectures. the people who sat on their phones/laptops/etc my first semester aren’t here anymore. if you are having trouble paying attention, take a very quick “bathroom” break if you can to move around. it really helps to get you re-focused.

10: take care of yourself. everyone in nursing school talks about being sleep deprived. sleep is important and you’ll feel better and do better. bring some snacks so you aren’t distracted by the snackies. remember to “schedule” in some time to do something non-school related that you enjoy!