HOW TO WIN AT FRESHMAN YEAR IN COLLEGE Pt 1. (Academics)

The vehicle was moving steadily when the whispering music playing from my phone stopped. Suddenly, I became aware of the raindrops pelting against my window, creating a lulling harmony. The afternoon downpour colored everything gloomily, from the blinking stoplight to the people passing by with their umbrellas overhead. A sweet, new melody began as I felt the cold leather seat sink beside me.

Okay! Posting this as a break after answering the late-answered asks (so sorry!!! I’ll resume in a while hahaha).

So yeah, I finally got my degree for BS Basic Medical Science last June 22. It’s kinda hard to explain the program I’m in to some, but in short, I just finished 5 years out of this 7-year intensive medicine program. It was a roller coaster (lol cliche!!! but nevertheless true!!!) but I learned to love medicine along the way. I could really say that my heart is in the right place :)

Sometimes I can’t be thankful enough that I’m here, wearing this sablay. Did you know I almost didn’t make it? I wasn’t part of the original top 40 list, and I almost didn’t even make it as waitlister because I only found out I was waitlisted a day before the deadline of confirmation. The letter didn’t find its way to me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that one fateful phone call from the college to my mom’s office in Camarines Sur (a province, no less!) following up whether I wanted to take the slot (that I wasn’t aware of in the first place) or not. They said they couldn’t contact me through my personal mobile phone (waaaah! Imagine if they just gave up contacting me, right? Huhu I love you UPCM). My sister, who was thankfully in NCR that time, even rushed to process my documents and brave through the streets of Manila just so I could confirm my slot.

And here I am, proudly wearing this sablay that I wouldn’t trade for the world. This piece of clothing represents all the victories and struggles I encountered in the past for the service I promised to give in the future. Again, I will never get tired of being thankful.

As much as I am scared for clerkship, and for PGH to eat me alive, I am more determined to pursue this dream I first considered way back in high school. Like I said before to myself, I am blessed to be stressed about this. 

Cheers to a lifelong journey of learning! :)

Rosa Silvana T. Bascuña INTARMED Class 2020 cum laude

TIPS FOR A PRODUCTIVE STUDY DAY:

Find a good place to study: somewhere light, quiet, busy, spacious, cosy, alone, with friends …whatever works for you. Take time to learn what kind of environment you work best in. Try and put your technology aside. If you’re always on your phone, turn it off and put it in your bag, if you’re finding the internet distracting, download “Pomodoro” (an app which blocks sites like facebook, twitter etc for a set period of time).

Figure out when you’re most productive: if it’s in the morning, get up earlier and spend a few hours solidly working, if it’s in evening, make sure you set some time aside to focus. For me, I work best between 8am-1pm, then I normally take a few hours off, and if I have a lot to do I’ll head back to the library between 4-8pm. Finding the time when your mind is at its most alert can have a huge impact on your studies and will mean you avoid spending hours being unproductive. 

Decide what you’re going to do before you start: if you have lots of different things to do, decide which one you’re going to focus on before you sit down. This will prevent you from panicking and trying to do everything at once, which will only make you feel stressed and unproductive.

Set realistic goals: don’t try and be overambitious with what you want to achieve that day. If you set yourself unrealistic goals, you’ll only finish the day feeling like you’ve failed. Set yourself a number of small, manageable tasks to work through, then if you are able to do more it will make you feel a lot more productive.

Start with the hard stuff: tackle the big problems first. Things will feel easier in the first few hours of studying when your mind is most awake, so it’s important to start with the trickier things first. This way, when you hit a wall you can work through a few of the smaller, easier tasks and still feel like you’re getting stuff done. 

Remember to keep refuelling: get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, bring snacks, treat yourself to a nice lunch, take frequent breaks, walk around and go outside if you can. If you are planning to spend a long time studying it’s important to keep your energy levels up.

Plan something for the end of the day: even if it’s just going to the gym, making a nice meal, or going for a drink with your friends, give yourself something to look forward to at the end of a long day studying. 

Remember why you’re doing this: is it to get into university or just because you’re passionate about your subject? By linking something difficult to something you care about, it makes it easier to stay focused and keep going.

Not every day can be productive: if things aren’t happening that day keep trying for a while and if you’re still feeling stuck do something else. There’s no point sitting at your desk for hours when you’re just not able to get things done. Go and do something you enjoy and try and get out of the house, and just try again tomorrow. A few days off here and there is not going to ruin your degree, and taking time to do something for yourself is likely to make you more productive in the long run.

day 1 |  back to school challenge |  🎶winner - island

next semester is going to be my first year in university, so i’m super excited!! to stay focused this semester, here is my list of goals for fall 2017. (this is me talking to myself, so it’s gonna be in 2nd person)

goals for: school

make a study schedule

use google calendar to build a schedule w enough study time allotted to each class, as well as imp assignments and tests

and stick to it! 

build self-discipline!

5-minute rule: if you don’t want to do it, just do it for 5 minutes. just 5

no zero days. a day shouldn’t go by, that you did nothing for your dreams and aspirations

there’s no way around the hard work! if you wanna graduate early, buckle up and get to work

obliterate procrastination!

set early deadlines, and convince yourself they’re as imp as the real deadlines

when you don’t feel like it, remember the snowball effect. leave it now, and it will become a bigger problem later

tell your friends that you’re gonna do something, and you’re for sure gonna have it done by a certain time

block tumblr and youtube. forreal

classes & academics

learn who sits beside you and make friends with them

read the entire syllabus!! 

join at least two student groups

practice making small talk. they’re midwest people, they’re gonna be nice, they won’t bite, don’t worry,

participate in class! answer questions! make sure the prof/ta knows you! 

talk to the prof/ta if you’re struggling. don’t try to do it all alone all the time

goals for: self

mental health

don’t be too hard on yourself

follow advice from people who have gone thru uni w/ mental health issues 

build self-confidence in yourself

stop apologizing. you are enough

go to counseling/therapy when it gets bad, there’s counseling that won’t cost you

explain to friends / tell them i’m not ignoring them, just, my brain is kinda not working well sometimes

daily routines

fix your sleep schedule. please. go to sleep: 10-11. wake up: 5-6

set up a schedule for skincare routine and stick to it. get some better moisturizer asap and stick! to! the! routine!

make a fitness schedule as well. aim for a certain amount of physical time per day, and neck/arm/back excercises for everyday

diet: increase fruit/veg intake slowly; one fruit/veg/smoothie a day. drink water when you want sugar

even tho this post turned out super long and specific, feel free to use any of these if you would like!!

-ria

6000 most used korean words

1-1000 1,것,A thing or an object 2,하다,To do 3,있다,To be 4,수,way, method, Number 5,하다,To do 6,나,I 7,없다,Do not exist, absent 8,않다,To not do 9,사람,Person 10,우리,we, our 11,그,He, That 12,아니다,To not be 13,보다,To try 14,거,thing 15,보다,To see 16,같다,To be similar 17,주다,To give, to do for a person 18,대하다,Face,...

Here is the full google spreadsheet with all of the words I used in my quizlet decks. Feel free to use this to make your own flashcards based on your own learning preferences or levels! I hope this helps you in your learning! 여러분, 파이팅! 

how I keep myself sane during summer break.

I think we can all agree that the mere idea of having holiday breaks from boring lectures and all-nighter study sessions sounds like heaven; although this romanticized idea of having so much free time often turns into wasted summer days, oversleeping, and basically an anti-social teenage version of house arrest. so, to help you out (or, more to help Myself) here are some things I do to keep myself busy, on a budget (kind of), and mentally healthy during long breaks from school.

continue your morning routine. this is important; by this I mean to basically treat your summer mornings as you would your school mornings, without the rush and alarm. brush your teeth, brush your hair, start/continue a skincare routine, get out of your pajamas and into real clothes, make your bed, make some coffee, eat some breakfast, do it with some music on, whatever you want. this keeps your mind and body into a daily routine. don’t let all your precious no-class mornings of summer go to waste!

savor sleeping in, but not too much. I know its super tempting to go to bed at like 2 AM and wake up the next “morning” at 12PM, but trust me, you’ll regret fucking up your sleep schedule once you actually have to set an alarm and get your ass to class next fall. I’m not saying you should force yourself to set a summer alarm (although, if you really want to train yourself this isn’t a bad idea tbh) but for the love of god, at least go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times. don’t waste your entire day!!

force yourself to see your friends a couple times a week, even if you really don’t want to. obviously this excludes mental health days, but I’ve found that spending time with my friends actually distracts me from any anxiety I’ve felt during the past week. I love my alone time, but human interaction is super important both mentally and physically. as college students we’re all pretty much broke, so don’t underestimate the power of free things- watching netflix at someone’s house, having a boardgame night, going to parks, you name it. as long as you’re with your friends, you’ll have a great time!

clean out your music library + make a playlist or two. y’all know I love a good playlist. this is something totally 100% FREE, and a perfect way to make use of your free time. delete all the stuff you don’t listen to anymore and make a few playlists of your favorite songs, or even go with playlist themes to organize your songs. it’s fun and your future self will probably thank you later for getting rid of so much audible junk.

get back into reading. this is something that was on my personal summer to-do list. I haven’t read a book for myself (aka not for a class) in sooo long, and let me tell you- I don’t know why I ever stopped reading. I know for a fact that once the semester starts I’ll have zero free time to read for myself, so summer is the perfect time to get into a new book or two!

eat your three meals a day +hydrate. I mean this. its very easy to skip/forget meals when you really don’t have any set schedule whatsoever, so plan your meals into your day. even make an alarm if its necessary. also: if you don’t know if you’re drinking enough water, you probably aren’t.

deep clean your room/workspace/closet. I’m super guilty for putting this off but, long breaks like summer are the perfect times to deep clean! what makes it easier for me to clean my room is to go section by section, which means not doing it all in a day (because that gets hella overwhelming and stressful, let me tell you). grab a garbage bag, put on some tunes, and pick a section to clean that day; you’ll be done with the entire space in no time!

outfit plan. for someone like me who has way too much in my closet and somehow still “never has anything to wear”, this is essential! set some outfits out on the floor/bed and take pics of them on your phone so that you can look back on them for some style inspo the next time you have “absolutely NOTHING to wear”.

find a new hobby, even if you’re bad at it. make some collages of your friends, make a scrapbook, learn photoshop, paint a little, learn how to sew, garden, cook, practice your phone photography skills… if there was a time for you to try out new things, it’s NOW.

make a post about all the shit you should do. I’m doing it right now. literally. you’re reading it right now. its not a bad idea.

if you know you have shit to do, plan it into your day! this is where the planner/agenda/bullet journal aspect comes in. having no class and no homework is not an excuse to stop planning out your day, your week, or your month. make some task lists and pencil in your dentist appointments and dates with people and whatnot; and even journal your days while you’re at it! if you’re a planner, never stop. Future You will thank you for it, I promise.

HOW TO WRITE A HIGH-GRADE RESEARCH PAPER

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The first time I had to write a research paper for university was one of the most stressful experiences I’d ever had - it was so different to anything I’d ever done before and caused me so much anxiety! It turned out that I’m pretty damn good at writing research reports and I’m now looking to pursue a career in psychological research. 

I have never received less than a First (or 4.0 GPA for you American studiers) in my research papers so I thought I’d share my top tips on how to write a kick-ass, high-grade research paper.

*disclaimer: I am a psychology student, my tips are based on my personal experience of writing up psychological research (quantitative and qualitative); therefore, they may require some adaptation in order to be applied to your field of study/research*

These tips will be split up into the different sections a research paper should consist of: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion.

ABSTRACT

The aim of an abstract is to summarise your whole paper - it should be concise, include key-words, highlight the key points of your paper and be written last.

When I say concise, I mean concise! The abstract is what other students and researchers will read in order to decide whether your research is relevant their own work and essentially determines whether or not they’ll read on - they want to know the key details and don’t want to be overwhelmed with information.

I always aim to keep my abstracts under 250 words. I set myself this limit to stop myself waffling and dwelling on unimportant points, it helps me to be really selective of what I include and ensures I’m gripping the reader from the start.

Your abstract should discuss the research rationale, the methods and designs used, your results and the general conclusion(s) drawn. One or two sentences on each of these topics is enough.

Make sure you’re using key-words throughout your abstract as this will also help the reader decide whether your work is relevant to theirs. You can make key-words super obvious by highlighting them in a key at the bottom of your abstract (see below) or just used jargon consistently. Using key-words is also important if you’re looking to get your work published, these words will help people find your work using search engines.

Finally, write your abstract last! An abstract is a summary of your whole research paper which makes it practically impossible to write well first. After writing the rest of your paper, you will know your research inside and out and already have an idea of what key things you need to highlight in your abstract.

INTRODUCTION

For me, the introduction section is always the most intimidating to write because it’s like painting on a blank canvas - massively daunting and leaving you terrified to make a mistake!

The aim of an introduction is to provide the rationale for your research and justify why your work is essential in the field. In general, your introduction should start very broad and narrow down until you arrive at the niche that is your research question or hypothesis.

To start, you need to provide the reader with some background information and context. You should discuss the general principle of your paper and include some key pieces of research (or theoretical frameworks if relevant) that helps your reader get up to speed with the research field and where understanding currently lies. This section can be pretty lengthy, especially in psychological research, so make sure all of the information you’re including is vital as it can be pretty easy to get carried away.

This background should lead you onto the rationale. If you’ve never written a research paper before, the rationale is essentially the reason behind your own research. This could be building on previous findings so our understanding remains up to date, it could be picking up on weaknesses of other research and rectifying these issues or it could be delving into an unexplored aspect of the field! You should clearly state your rationale and this helps lead into the next section.

You should end your introduction by briefly discussing your current research. You need to state your research question or hypothesis, how you plan on investigating the question/hypothesis, the sample you plan on using and the analysis you plan to carry out. You should also mention any limitations you anticipate to crop up so you can address these in your discussion.

In psychology, references are huge in research introductions so it is important to use an accurate (and modern as possible) reference for each statement you are making. You can then use these same references in your discussion to show where your research fits into the current understanding of the topic!

METHODS

Your methods section should make use of subheadings and tables where necessary and should be written in past tense. This can make the (potentially) lengthy section easier to navigate for the reader. I usually use the following headings: participants, materials, design, procedure.

The participants section should describe the sample that took part in your research. Age, gender, nationality and other relevant demographic information should be provided as well as the sampling technique. Personally, I use a table (see below) alongside my continuous prose as an alternative way of viewing my sample population. Please note, if you’re using a table make sure it adheres to your university guidelines.

The materials section of your methods should include any equipment, resources (i.e. images, books, diagrams) or any other materials used in your data collection. You should also reference the program that helped you conduct your analysis. For example, if you are writing a qualitative research paper, you may want to include Microsoft Word in your materials if you use the program to transcribe interviews.

You should then describe the design used in your research. All variables should be identified in this paragraph, if relevant. You should also discuss whether your research is within-groups or between-groups, again only if relevant.

Last is your procedure section - the most important one! You must write this section with enough detail so that anybody could pick it up, read it and conduct the same experiment with ease. You should describe what participants were required to do, how data was collected and it should be written in chronological order! While it’s important to provide enough information, try not to overwhelm the reader with lengthy sentences and unnecessary information.

RESULTS

Your results section’s sole purpose is to provide the reader with the data from your study. It should be the second shortest section (abstract being first) in your research paper and should stick to the relevant guidelines in regards to reporting figures, tables and diagrams. Your goal is to relay results in the most objective and concise way possible.

Your results section serves to act as evidence for the claims you’ll go on to make during your discussion but you must not be biased in the results you report. You should report enough data to sufficiently justify your conclusions but must also include data that doesn’t support your original hypothesis or research question. 

Reporting data is most easily done through tables and figures as they’re easy to look at and select relevant information. If you’re using tables and figures you should always make sure you’re stating effect sizes and p values and to a consistent decimal place. Illustrative tables and figures should always be followed by supporting summary text consisting of a couple of sentences relaying the key statistical findings in continuous prose.

DISCUSSION

The discussion section should take the opposite approach to your introduction! You should start discussing your own research and broaden the discussion until you’re talking about the general research field.

You should start by stating the major findings of your study and relating them back to your hypothesis or research questions. You must must must explicitly state whether you reject or accept your experimental hypothesis, if you have one. After stating your key findings you should explain the meaning, why they’re important and where they fit into the existing literature. It’s here that you should bring back the research you discussed in your introduction, you should relate your findings to the current understanding and state the new insight your research provides.

You should then state the clinical relevance of your research. Think about how your findings could be applied to real-life situations and discuss one or two practical applications.

After this, discuss the limitations of your research. Limitations could include sample size and general sample population and how this effects generalisability of findings, it could include methodological problems or research bias! These limitations will allow you to discuss how further research should be conducted. Suggest ways in which these limitations could be rectified in future research and also discuss the implications this could have on findings and conclusions drawn.

Finally, you need to give the reader a take-home message. A sentence or two to justify (again) the need for your research and how it contributes to current understanding in the field. This is the last thing your audience will read so make it punchy!

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That’s it folks! My tips for writing a kick-ass, high-grade research paper based on my personal experience. If you have any questions regarding things I’ve missed or didn’t provide enough detail of, then please just send me an ask!

Also, if any of you would like to read any of my past research papers I would be more than happy to provide you with them :-))

“I was meant to help, not hurt.”

“You don’t have to be so gentle with my hand. You can squeeze it if you want.”

“I was attempting to be poetic. Did it not work?”

“When the sky is a dark blue and the city lights almost hurt my eyes, I feel at ease.”

“It’s so hot outside, I’m more puddle than human.”

“Stop flirting with my roommate. They’re a villain!”

The First Semester is finally Done and I've checked out of my dorm! My semester finished earlier than others, and it was fun to just lounge around my room until it was the time to go home.

Today, I offer you pictures of Iska sleeping at our common area. Tomorrow? Who knows?

A friendly ghost rest stop before you continue your day! 💗

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