Originally Posted by anishrules

It's not necessarily bonus marks but by completing Mastering Chem assignments, you can reduce you final exam mark by 6% or something. It basically reduces the weight of your exam.

I see. Yeah, you're right, you should do Mastering Chem in that case. It will raise your final mark unless you score > 100% on your exam >_>

I had the exact same courses as you first semester of first year! I found it impossible to keep up and eventually gave up on trying to stay ahead and just tried to be caught up. I ended up doing really well despite having to cram some of the time, but I found that in the end, you don't need to read all the textbook readings, it will save you a lot of time, use it for clarification. Do mastering chemistry for sure! Chem text questions are not that useful as the chem test questions usually look similar to tutorials, mastering chem and best of all, practice exams and tests! Psych textbook is useless to read. You will find especially when you have a test in one course, you fall behind in something else but its okay to feel behind, we all do and as long as you are somewhat caught up, you can manage to do really well, by second semester and second year (as i am in right now) you will feel soooo much better! The most important thing to do is get your sleep, i never went to bed later than 11 and found I did so much better because i was relaxed, after a certain time, you get so tired, your brain starts to shut down so it takes you double or triple the time to do something than if you were rested. Relax and you will do fine.

Thanks everyone!!

Originally Posted by IBB9780

Hi everyone:

2 weeks into the school year I already feel like I'm drowning in school work. I really want to do well first year and it seems like I can't keep up with everything. This term I have:

Chem 1A03 (Try to skim chapters, textbook problems, tutorial problems, labs to prep for, mastering chem HW, read lecture notes)
Kin 1Y03 (Textbook readings before class, reviewing lecture notes)
Math 1LS3 (Test coming up, assignments, textbook problems, textbook readings, lecture notes)
Bio 1A03 (Textbook readings, labs, test to study for, review lecture notes)
Psych 1X03 (LONG chapters to read, online lectures to watch, online discussion board questions)

I'm finding it impossible to stay on top of all that work and at the same time have any time for myself. Is 1st year supposed to be this rough? I feel overwhelmed and stressed, I want to get involved in clubs and volunteering but I feel like I don't have the time. It's like I attend classes, go home, study, sleep, repeat...

For those of you who managed to do well first year can you share?

You need to learn to prioritize. The vast majority of readings should only be done if you do not understand a concept.

Chem: approx 2-3 hours a week for tutorial problems and mastering chem HW, one hour every other week to prep for lab (and you can often do it in less time than that). Textbook questions + readings are only needed if you want more practice or don't understand things.

Kin: half an hour every other week for prelab quiz. 2 hours (no more than three) every Thursday studying for the quiz. Done. Again, no need for textbook readings unless you want a better-quality diagram or clarification of a concept.

Bio: An hour or so for prelab and maybe another hour for postlab? They may have changed the format. Personally, I'd only study for tests a few days in advance...so definitely 10hours max. If I go beyond that, I'm doing more procrastinating than studying.

Math: I only did the assignments, and they took maybe 1 hour each? The textbook was still wrapped in plastic by the time I finished the course. And another 3-4 hours studying for the tests.

Psych: They changed the format of this course a LOT from when I took it. An hour per online lecture to make notes and everything, and like 15mins/day for discussion board.

That's about 11-12 hours per week excluding tests...so it shouldn't be too bad, since there's 168hrs/wk...even if you spend 63hrs sleeping (9hrs per night), and 22hrs in class/labs/tutorials, 10 hours eating, 7 hours getting ready each morning, you should still have 66 hours left over. You can easily spend even 20 of these hours on schoolwork while still having a life, you just need to prioritize. The amount of time you spend on everything will likely be different from how I spent my time, because you probably learn differently from me...you need to figure it out by yourself. But you've got over 60 hours to work with each week.

Hey, im in first year too, and yes its alot of work, but what i recommend you do is make a table of what you will do each day, and use a program called "wunderlist" to stay organized". On this table write down what you need to do each day, for example Monday: - Make study note of Bio/Chem lecture - Do math assignment from todays lecture - Prepare for upcoming chem lab - Do chem tutorial questions from todays lecture. This would be a generalized out line for everyday of the week. On the wunderlist program, do more specific things (add the things for the next day the night before) for example on sunday night i would add - read 8.2, and 8.3 for chem, read part of bio chapter 5, etc, and then check them off after you have done them. I find this really helps! Hopefully it can help you too, the workload has for sure increased but i think if you manage your time properly it shouldnt be a problem Well... i hope

TD;DR ... organize everything.

Originally Posted by nerual

You need to learn to prioritize. The vast majority of readings should only be done if you do not understand a concept.

Chem: approx 2-3 hours a week for tutorial problems and mastering chem HW, one hour every other week to prep for lab (and you can often do it in less time than that). Textbook questions + readings are only needed if you want more practice or don't understand things.

Kin: half an hour every other week for prelab quiz. 2 hours (no more than three) every Thursday studying for the quiz. Done. Again, no need for textbook readings unless you want a better-quality diagram or clarification of a concept.

Bio: An hour or so for prelab and maybe another hour for postlab? They may have changed the format. Personally, I'd only study for tests a few days in advance...so definitely 10hours max. If I go beyond that, I'm doing more procrastinating than studying.

Math: I only did the assignments, and they took maybe 1 hour each? The textbook was still wrapped in plastic by the time I finished the course. And another 3-4 hours studying for the tests.

Psych: They changed the format of this course a LOT from when I took it. An hour per online lecture to make notes and everything, and like 15mins/day for discussion board.

That's about 11-12 hours per week excluding tests...so it shouldn't be too bad, since there's 168hrs/wk...even if you spend 63hrs sleeping (9hrs per night), and 22hrs in class/labs/tutorials, 10 hours eating, 7 hours getting ready each morning, you should still have 66 hours left over. You can easily spend even 20 of these hours on schoolwork while still having a life, you just need to prioritize. The amount of time you spend on everything will likely be different from how I spent my time, because you probably learn differently from me...you need to figure it out by yourself. But you've got over 60 hours to work with each week.

Perfect definition of time management lol, thanks

3 of your classes should be grade 12 review right now anyways >_>. bio, chem, and psych arent time consuming at all as of yet. your math is easy >_>. idk about kin. stop worrying and do what other people said.

I definitely felt like this during my first semester last year! Someone last year told me it was "first-year mentality" to feel like you are behind all the time (which I completely felt all Term 1 last year). There's no one thing that someone can tell you do organize your time better, you have to figure what you need to do to help you understand. If that means reading every page assigned, then go for it.

what I did...

Chemistry: read through lecture slides, worked on tutorial, and some textbook problems. I usually just went through the examples they did in the text so I could see the full solution.

Math: did the weekly homework, and that's about it.

Bio: just kept up with reviewing your notes from class. If you have Kajura, you don't really need to read the textbook. At first I tried rewriting all my notes (like I did in highschool...to make study notes) but I personally think it is a waste of time--you're better off just studying off lecture slides.

Psych: can't really comment on since it seems like they changed the course a lot this year.

All I know is it is a lot to get used to, and trust me--it is completely normal to be overwhelmed. You just have to get through this to get used to it.

Good luck!!!!

I took Bio, Math, Kin and Chem last year so I could give some tips:

Bio 1A03: If you have Dr. K, I would follow her notes (like many have suggested) but also read the textbook to help you to understand stuffs you aren't sure about. The good thing is that she follows the textbook so you can always use your textbook if you miss something in the lecture. For Dr. Boreham, make sure you study his slides carefully. Also try to listen to him during the lecture, he likes to talk about concepts and sometimes they are important to know for the exm. Also pay attention to his guest speakers. He sometimes throws in 1 or 2 questions relating to what the guest speaker said. Try to stay on track with the lab too. This is where I struggled the most. If possible, try to do the lab write up few days before the lab so you won't be super stressed trying to prepare the lab write-up for the next day.

Math 1LS3: Courseware is your study tool. When I took this course, I just used the courseware to study for the exam and managed to do fine. Some test questions are very similar to the courseware questions. This was when I took math in term 1 with Dr. Lovric. I'm not sure how math 1LS3 is structured now so I wouldn't entirely follow the advice of "just" studying the courseware. Be warned: It is NOT an easy bird course. What I mean is that you actually have to prepare for the test. But yes, it is not as hard as Chem or Bio.

Kin: For me, I didn't study for the friday's test until thursday. But when I did study, I studied like a madman. There are actually quite abit to memorize (and yes, understand the concept although I would say it is more memorizing) and this sometimes meant staying up until 3am to feel prepared for the test. Even though I hate the friday's test day, I think it actually helped us stay on track with the material and prepare for the final exam better. Just to let you know in advance, give yourself about a week or two to prepare for the final exam. There is no way you can "cram" for this final exam unless you are freaking smart.

Chem 1A03: I did horrible in this course so I don't think I can really offer advice for this course. Make sure to do as many practise questions and just work your butt off for this one.

doing is more important and a better use of your time(for chem and math anyway) than reading about doing. use those textbooks for practice problems,especially don't read the textbook for chem b/c landry and co. know that's exactly what you're going to do, and tend to stray away from most of the content in there.

In the first week my life sci friend woke up at 9am went to sleep 4 am with the same cycle as you (class, study, eat, sleep). Now she's sleeping at 12-1am. She graduated highschool with a 90+ avg. She said that she's getting used to things, and slowly adjusting. I think it just take time, so try not to stress over it.