Week 31

Here is my week 31. 

I've had a busy week, uni started back up so I've been trying to wrap my head around what tasks I need to complete. 

It was also my best friends 21st birthday on Saturday, we kicked off celebrations on the Friday night with her family, then went out to the city with her work friends as everyone else flaked out at the last minute. I had such a fun weekend. 

As you can see Sunday I had scheduled in a recovery day- and I think I will be recovering all week. 

This week I have included my dodo pad type inserts that I made for my uni work, these stay at home open on my desk in my a5 

minimalistic??

 

Hello!

I think I may have stumbled across a bit of a holy grail (we are the knights who say Ni! – Monty Python) find here.

In an attempt to be a bit more grown up I am on the hunt for creating a more ‘grown up’ or minimalistic style planner and planning system for my Filofax and my uni work.

Browsing the sale at Notemaker.com.au I found this lovely brand from Korea called O-Check. Their stock range is hard to find in stores and their website only  allows wholesale clients to see there full product range but from what I have seen on Notemaker I am in love!

 

I would love to purchase these folders to file my notes in for uni

 

They come in a few colours, a dusky yellow, silver, pink and the grey above.

I am also in love with their cute notebooks, like this one

What really made me fall madly in love is this cute little post it set.

I love how simple it all is. It is cute and girly in a non Hello Kitty PINK PINK PINK way. As you know from my previous post I dislike hello kitty with a passion.

Have you ever used this brand before? Seen it in the shops? Let me know your thoughts.

 

University – what to do when you don’t pass an assessment

This week I have been so down, last night I jumped online to look at what marks I received for my economics essay. The whole essay was marked out of 50, and I received 19.5…yep, you read that right, I didn’t even pass the assignment.

Now, in my whole academic career I have not failed an assignment. I joked with friends about how when I go to pick up my assignment, they could just look in the pile labelled ‘Fail’ to find mine. Well that joke came back to bite me, I really didn’t pass.

Devastated and embarrassed ( the marks were released publicly to anyone sitting in the unit – with our student numbers and marks) I took to Facebook – in hindsight this isn’t the best idea, wrote a depressive status about how ‘although you have no doubt it is coming, it is still upsetting’.

So after that, the panic set in. This is the train of thought that generally comes with this sort of panic - What if this means I don’t pass this unit, I am going to get a fail mark, and have to pay $1,500 for something I failed, what if I just withdraw from the unit?,  how did this happen? Why do I suck? (insert continuous depressive and panic stricken thoughts in here).

So what happens now? Well my first port of call was too look at how much the assignment weighting was in the whole unit. It turns out that the assignment was only worth 15%. Which doesn’t sound like much, but when it comes down to it that 15% could be the difference in passing or not.

I’m not too sure how many points or marks I have for this subject, (I think most teachers don’t like giving them out as it spurs students to study hard for the exams.) My next thought was to form a list of questions for the unit convenor and swallow my broken pride and call. I called the teacher looking for some guidance as to whether I should sit the exam or withdraw from the unit, which was a drastic move, but one I considered.

He advised me to stick with the class and sit the exam, and if it didn’t work out in the end speak with him after my marks are released. To see what my next options are.

I have two options as my contingency plan. I can look at the areas I struggled with and sit the unit again on top of the other units I will have next semester.  Being a normal semester I will have roughly 12 weeks to learn the content again and it might just be a case of understanding it better the second time round.

Now, this is a route that I would rather not go down as it means I would have to sit an extra exam and still have the same amount of workload that I do now plus this one again.

The second option is one I am hoping to action if I don’t scrape into the passing stage which is summer school. Summer school at my uni is offered and limit to 2 subjects per summer semester. It is an intensive semester with the content only spanning roughly 8 weeks. (perfect for my concentration level). It would also be the only class I would take therefore focusing all my energy on that one. Which means I could excel or I could crumble. So with that in mind, my study period begins this weekend. I am hoping to boost my marks by doing the exam, but if I don’t quite get there I have a plan to fall back on.

Bottom line is, don’t panic if you don’t pass there is almost always a back up plan. If you feel like you are struggling and not going to pass reach out for some advice, don’t be embarrassed to ask, I wish I had of done it sooner during the semester.

For anyone who is reading who has exam season approaching, I wish you the best of luck!

University: Buying Lunch

Hello!

Normally I am only on my uni campus for at least 3-4 hrs a day and then I drive straight home, however on Wednesday’s I have classes and lectures from 10am – 7pm – which is a long day. I bring snacks with me such as nuts or yummy protein bars. These are great just to chuck in your bag and go or if you are like me, eat them during lectures (we aren’t meant to eat in our lecture halls but I always end up starving in the middle of one lecture on a Wednesday.)

However some days you just feel like something nice for lunch. My campus is lovely, lots of coffee shops, we have a book shop, post office, bank, and food court. Which is great! However lunch normally costs me $10 + (salad and a drink costs $14.00!)

My campus is surrounded by a huge shopping centre about 10 min walk or 3 min drive, or there is a supermarket just north of the uni. I decided to venture up to the supermarket to grab a few things while I was on break.

I found this lovely HUGE tub of pre made caesar salad, with bacon, cheese and dressing. I always try and pick things that have a fork included in the pack. I walked over to the deli in the super market and picked up a piece of cooked chicken to add into my salad. I grabbed a can of drink…and the total came to $8.50!

Whilst this doesn’t seem like a big deal. I work on a daily budget of $25 a day while I am at uni (this includes petrol to drive to uni and back home.) At the end of the day this is a big saving in money, also means I can order a coffee in the late afternoon to keep me from falling asleep during a boring economics lectures.  

It may take more time and a bit more effort to walk off campus or drive off campus, but it refreshes your mind being in a different environment and saves you a few bob J

A different approach to assignments

This week has gone so quickly I can't believe it is Friday already! I am on holidays from Uni which is awesome because it has been so cold here in Sydney.

However 2 weeks off means I have 3 assignments due the week I return to Uni.

One assignment is for Economics. I really struggle with Econ (even though it is my faculty). I find the subject very tedious. I am a creative person so I am not used to this heavily structured subject. As much as I crave structure I love subjects that allow you to explore options as to why, economics does not provide this. They trick you with terms you think you already know and change the meaning lol!

My assignment requires little outside research so that is a plus, however the markers are expecting to see 10 pages worth of work! (essentially 2 pages per question) this is the biggest assignment I have ever had to date.

I decided to brake down the questions and go through the sections with a highlighter and highlight the main parts of the question. ( words like 'why' 'anaylse' 'describe' ...the key words that help you action the appropriate task to answer the question)
I also highlighted the terms that I needed to revise to fully grasp the concept of the question. I did this for all five questions and complied a list of terms to revise according to the question.

I have never thought of approaching an assignment like this before, however I am already interested in it because it is colorful!

My aim is to complete one set of questions every two days over the next week or so then I won't feel so overloaded with information so hopefully my answers will be more concise. ( hopefully I will end up with a good mark as I normally complete my assignments the night before they are due. I work better under pressure, but my stress levels don't cope very well.)

Would love to hear your thoughts or approaches to assignments :)

I (heart) The Reject Shop!

Hello, Uni has started this week, what does that mean? It means I am very busy and poor :(

However, I needed a lunch box so I made a trip down to the reject shop. I love cheap $2 shops. I couldn't help myself, I had to walk past the stationary section.

I ended up with a new pencil case (which I needed)
A a5 ruled note book, with a damask pattern on it, I love this print! It looks amazing on anything!
A packet of licensed (supposedly) Winnie the pooh tissues in a 5 pack, perfect size for travelling
A tin of canned chicken imported from Thailand...I'm not sure if I'm game enough to eat canned chicken, the whole canned tuna thing makes me hurl! I hope it's not gross, it would be great to take it to Uni with me.

Oh, I also received a few parcels in the mail today...some linen from my linen party and a new Filofax!!!!