#you can learn advanced bio and chem and physics in college if you want and none of those classes exempted me from college reqs

[iamnotlookingidonotseeit]

also on the subject of wanting more from me than I can sustainably offer. when my parents said 'we didn't let you become aware as a kid that you could take it any easier and still succeed'. that made me really fucking mad too

[livs-in-space]

studyblr intro !?

hello beautiful people! i started this blog a couple of months ago just so i could get the *feel* for being on tumblr but i think this blog is finally ready to evolve into its true form--a studyblr!!! classes start in september for me so i figured i could get ahead of the game and post this! i am so excited to share my content with you guys and i cant wait to see yours!

a little bit about me (bcs it’s a far scroll for that first post lmao)

im liv!!

im a ravenclaw and an infj-t and a taurus

im 17 and living in the usa! (class of 2020 wOO)

im going into my senior year of high school 

im a bisexual! (power to all my fellow queers ily)

i like using exclamation points (if u cant tell by now)

interests:

i love reading !!!!!!! like lOVE it book recommendations are ALWAYS helpful

im an avid music lover and musician and am always looking for new recommendations!!!! some bands i love are: fob, the 1975, twenty one pilots, peach pit, mgmt, coin, dodie, taylor swift, troye sivan, etc etc

i am a musician in all the ways at my school--i do voulenteer work at band shows, i am in all of the school musicals, i play my violin in both chamber and regular orchestra, and i recently picked up the cello last year! (the cello might be short-lived though its like wrestling a bear)

i am a hUGE museum person like i will go all the time and beg people to come with me art makes me SO happy

some academia stuffs:

here are some of the classes ive already taken (h-honors ap-advanced placement):

algebra 1 h, geometry h, algebra 2 h, precalc h 

english 1 h, 2 h, ap lang

biology h, chem h, physics h 

ap world history, apush, ap government and politics

advanced orchestra / chamber ensembles for 3 years now, and music theory 1 (essentially this is half a semester of college theory 1)

ive been taking german as a second language for almost 5 years now! i also know portuguese (both brazilian and iberian lmao)

classes im taking THIS year:

orchestra / chamber ensemble (again lmao)

ap lit

ap bio

organic chem h

ap calc bc

ap german 5

goals!

i want to be an astrobiologist (hence the url) and im hoping to enter uni as a biochemistry major or an astrophysics major !! let's hope it all goes according to plan !

im trying to be more organized with my schoolwork and cut down on the amount of time i spend scrolling through the interwebs. although it might seem counterproductive to start a studyblr i feel like if i filter school content through this blog i might get more inspired to do my work instead of becoming an internet vegetable

what i’ll post

original content and reblogs!!!!!!!!

ill mostly post pictures of notes n my desk because i feel pretty confident about my notetaking skills aha

maybe i’ll do 100 days of productivity ? whooo knowwws

im not really interested in making my own brand, although i fully support those in this community that do ! if i feel i have ample advice to share i will definitely do that but for now i think ill stick to what i know ;)

why studyblr?

this community is one i can really get behind. i love how all the content is different and beautiful and overwhelmingly hELPFUL and im so so excited to be apart of it!! i also feel i can learn so much from running my own blog and being in the community yaknow! my asks will ALWAYS be open !

studyblrs/blogs that inspire me!

there’s waAAY too many to count but here are just some!!

@diaryofastemstudent @studyblr @studyquill @stillstudies @studylustre @emmastudies @eintsein @einstetic @warmhealer

thanks everyone!! i cant wait to see what comes next :D

[allisonswrittenwords]

“Math is for eggheads!”

Yeah, and it doesn’t have any practical applications once you’re out of school, right?  It’s just like science – once you’re not learning about it, you don’t really need it.

Now, I admit, I never liked Math (or Science).  I did well with both subjects until 8th grade, but struggled once I got to high school.  Where I was a solid A/B student in English/Literature and History, I was more along the lines of a B/C+/C student in Math and Science.  Don’t get me wrong, I find concepts of both subjects interesting as an adult, but when I was in school, I was frustrated constantly.  I loved how equations looked and loved working on solving them.  That was usually where I did ok.  Word problems, however, are the worst.  My high school required three years of math, with the maximum requirement being Algebra 2.  You just hoped you could start Algebra 1 in ninth grade so you could finish the math requirement, as mandated by the state of New Jersey, during junior year.  No Pre-Calculus or Calculus for me – I was done with Math!

As for Science, again, love the concept of science, loved 3-2-1 Contact as a kid, but it frustrated me.  I did well in ninth grade science – it was a introduction to Biology and Chemistry (I think it was called Bio/Chem Tech), but it was so much fun, and I was a solid A/B student.  We had a great teacher and once in a while, we got to watch Bill Nye The Science Guy when it was relevant.  However, once I got to Biology in 10th grade (and the dreaded Chemistry in 11th grade), I struggled.  I never got anything above a C in Chemistry.  I loved my teacher, and he seemed to understand that not everyone was good at the subject, but he would work with the ones who struggled the most.  I was grateful for him, but Chemistry was the final required Science class in New Jersey, so yeah, I didn’t move on to Physics.

11th grade (1999-2000). And yes, my hair really was that long!

During college, I had to take (for non-major requirements) two Math classes.  In my case, it wound up being three, as my SATs put me in a workshop/basic skills Math class for my first semester.  I actually liked that class, it was like Pre-Algebra, but not taught by the former nun I had in eighth grade.  We also met regularly one-on-one with the professor, and she was a nice, very approachable person.  She knew why we were there, and was great with us.  And the next class I took, which was the first required class everyone at college had to take (can’t remember the name of it), was actually fun.  By the time I got to the Algebra 1-level class I *chose* to take (there were other classes, this one sounded interesting to me), I loved Math.  Where I struggled in high school, I excelled in college.  It was 1000-level Math, but still, I loved it, and I was actually good at it!

College graduation (2005)

My college also required one science-type class, so I took one that I had heard so many amazing things about – Atom, Man, and Universe.  It was a 200-student class (no social distancing there!), taught in a theater-style classroom by this adorable older gentleman from Israel.  He was wonderful, and the material was so interesting.  I got a B in the class, but I felt like I learned so much, and grasped it.

These days, my favorite kind of science involves planetariums and museums, and my favorite kind of math involves practical applications.  While there were times I certainly thought “I’ll never use this again,” it was a teenage mentality and it certainly is not the truth.

The best kind of math and science, for me, is the surprise kind.  Where you didn’t think you’d learn either subject, it comes out of its way to teach you something.  That type of “surprise Math” is the basis for a very entertaining – and educational – short from 1959, featuring someone else who believed there was not actual use for Math.  It’s also my Retro Rewatch for this week!

A “Mighty Strange” Place

Donald In Mathmagic Land is a 1959 short film by Walt Disney, released theatrically on a bill with Darby O’Gill and the Little People.  The film was nominated for an Academy Award, and made available to schools beginning in the 1960s, considered to be one of the most popular educational Disney films ever made.

Donald Duck is hunting, when he wanders into a “mighty strange” place – a land where numbers flow over waterfalls, trees with square roots, and then is encountered by a walking pencil that wants Donald to play Tic-Tac-Toe with it.  As he wanders further, a geometric bird recites all the numbers of Pi.  It is then that the unseen “True Spirit of Adventure,” merely a disembodied voice, welcomes Donald to Mathmagic Land and “the wonder of mathematics.”

Donald is immediately resistant to the whole idea, as “math is for eggheads.”  But the Spirit decides to strike a “chord” with Donald, by piquing his interest in music.

Alright True Spirit of Adventure, you have him, he’s listening.

The early origins of music, as created by Pythagoras and his contemporaries (and their “jam session”) in Ancient Greece, is explored.

Music gives way to the pentagram, the golden section of the pentagram, and how it constructs golden rectangles, as well as the influence of the golden rectangle in ancient and modern cultures – construction of buildings, creating of paintings, and even dancing!

The golden rectangle isn’t just for construction of buildings, creation of paintings, and dance, but also to humans and nature – the “ideal proportions” of the human body fit the structure of the golden rectangle.

Well, almost every body.  Not everyone is “mathematically perfect.”

In nature, the pentagram is found in flowers and animals, with the golden section featured in nature’s designs.

From nature to games, Donald learned that mathematics plays a pivotal role in the games one plays, including chess (which features a nice nod to Alice in Wonderland), baseball (Donald loves this!), football, basketball, hopscotch, and three-cushion billiards.

After some “mental housecleaning” of Donald’s antiquated ideas, bungling, false concepts, superstitions, and confusion, Donald plays with a triangle and circle in his mind, which gives way to the learning of how the two work together, spinning them into a sphere and a cone, and giving way to the invention of the wheel, magnifying glass, train, drill, spring, propeller, and telescope.

Finally, Donald learns that pentagrams – and in turn, numbers – can be drawn into infinity – no paper is big enough to accomplish this, and that technological advances and scientific knowledge are unlimited.  The key to unlocking the future, the Spirit informs Donald, is mathematics.

With his newfound appreciation and knowledge of how math figures into everything (my aforementioned “surprise math”), Donald finds out that the doors to the future will be unlocked by the curious and inquiring minds of future generations.

The True Spirit of Adventure ends the lessons with the words of Galileo:

“Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.”

Because Math!

My Reaction

Donald in Mathmagic Land was released as part of Disney’s Mini Classics collection in 1988. I owned the VHS of this, along with Mickey and the Beanstalk.  I believe we had Wind in the Willows also, or in the very least rented it.  I do remember these Mini Classics very well.  The video went to a younger cousin when I was in my teens (as alot of my videos and clothes did), so I lost track of it for a few years in the 90s, until I was in high school.

My eleventh grade math class, Algebra 2, watched this movie on the last day before winter break.  This was in 1999, and prior to that, it had been at least five years (probably more) since the last time I watched this.  And it was the last time I saw it.  Not something I ever forgot, but not something I approached watching again.

Until this week.

I had a pretty good memory of the animation and the rectangles, as well as the billiard scene and live action band, so watching this again really jogged some good memories of watching this in my living room as a six-year-old.  I really enjoyed this back then, didn’t understand much of it, but as an adult, I get it.  The concept is simple – math is everywhere (even when you least expect it), and its hidden knowledge is waiting to be unleashed from behind a locked door and shared with the world.

The animation is just as beautiful as I remember it, very much on par with Disney animation of the time.  The music is whimsical and beautiful, and the sound effects – especially the ones used to highlight all the rectangles on the Parthenon in Athens, Greece – always got my attention.

Ding-ding-ding!

If any of the concepts were a little fuzzy from so many years of not watching this, the billiards scene is the one that I remember best.  At 4 minutes and 46 seconds, it is the longest of the “live action” segments, but has alot of detail and explanation as to how the game is played, and how the player figures out his strategy. Even as a kid, this was always fascinating.

I’ll be perfectly honest, as soon as the video got to the section on games, I said “the billiards segment!” out loud.  It just always has stuck with me.

I love this video, all of it.  It was good then, it was good as a teenager, and it is good now.  I had so much fun watching it on the treadmill – I actually thought it was longer than 27 minutes.  It made my workout go a little faster, which is not always a bad thing!

Watch Donald in Mathmagic Land

Even if you’ve seen it before, even if you don’t understand all the concepts of math (I don’t, but I get some of it), this is a fun watch.  I have the DVD of it (and I’ve converted it to digital), but it is also on YouTube.

Upload via TrueDisney

Remember, “Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.”  It may not always seem like you need math, but it is always there, always advancing, always helping science – and life – advance.  And yes, you do need it.

Because Math!

Have a great day!

Retro Rewatch - "Donald in Mathmagic Land": The Wonderland of Mathematics is the setting for this 1959 "edu-taining" Disney short! "Math is for eggheads!"

[nerdgirlnarrates]

hi! i'm starting at uchicago in the fall, probably majoring in biology, and was wondering if you have any advice to offer on whether it's worth taking the advanced bio sequence? i'm mostly interested in research so it SEEMS like a good way to get lab experience, only i don't want it to crush my soul and that *does* seem like a possibility.

That’s so exciting, congrats on going to uchicago! UChicago is great, as is the bio major, and you’re gonna love it. You are certainly right though that advanced bio may both be good experience and/or crush your soul. Personally, it did not go very well for me and I dropped after a quarter, though I don’t regret taking it.

An important thing to consider about this class is why you’re taking it. Some of my reasons were good, such as it allows you to take less classes for the bio major. Some of my reasons were terrible: part of why I registered for it was I had a notion of myself as “the smart kid,” an identity very strictly defined by my GPA and how many honors classes I took. These reasons color your experience. Because I was in it largely to feel smart, when I didn’t do very well it led to a lot of self-esteem issues (turns out you shouldn’t make your grades your identity.) You’ve already identified that you’re interested in the research experience, which imo is the best reason to take the class. If you think you can handle getting lower grades than you’re used and/or wanted because you’re getting much better preparation for research, go for it. 

Advanced bio is an incredible amount of work, and it will be work you’ve never done before. There’s no way to really prepare for it, just know you’re going to go through an adjustment period. For me, the work caused a lot of disruptions in my sleep habits, my self confidence, and my work for other classes. There are definitely ways to avoid this though:

Meet with TAs and professors frequently. There was only one time that I met with my professor and talked through the material, and I really regret that. I learned so much more during that meaning than any other time in the quarter. Review what you’ve learned every week and go to your TA with a list of questions or some topics you’d like to review with them every week. Even if you think you understand something, talking through it will help to solidify your knowledge or help you identify gaps in your knowledge. Don’t hesitate to ask questions - it’s better to ask something stupid and learn than to stay quiet and make avoidable mistakes. Meeting with them regularly also makes it so much easier to stay on top of the material and will relieve you of a lot of stress come exams. 

This goes for lab TAs as well. This class asks you to read a lot of primary papers and write lab reports in the same format. For me, this was my first exposure to this material, and I was way out of my depth. Ask your lab TA if they’ll look over a draft of your lab report and see them to review the report once it’s been graded. This is a low-effort way to make sure you’re on the right track.

Start assignments as soon as you get them. I had heard this advice before and ignored it; be smarter than me. Once you’re behind on the quarter system, it is extremely difficult to recover. Start assignments as early as possible. This allows you more time if it ends up being more difficult than expected and ensures you’ll be able to ask questions of your TAs or professors in a timely manner. It also makes your time a lot more flexible, so that if something comes up - be it an illness or a party you really want to go to - you can take that time away because you’re already ahead.

Establish a consistent schedule. Getting into a routine makes the adjustment to college much easier. Wake up at the same time everyday, and if you have time before class you can hit the library or have a laidback morning and read/watch TV/whatever. Make sure you eat breakfast, even if it’s just an apple/yogurt/granola bar you bring to class. Drink water in the morning. Try to eat meals at a consistent time. If you take naps, try to take them for the same amount of time at the same time every day. Go to bed at a set time. Once you’ve established habits, it’s much easier to figure out where you have some flexibility in your day.

Only take three classes at least for fall quarter. I tried taking advanced bio, gen chem, hum, and sosc all at the same time, and it was disastrous. I couldn’t keep up with all the work. A lot of people will put off gen chem till second year. If you really want to take four classes, know which one you’ll drop if it gets to be too much.

Don’t be afraid to drop. It doesn’t mean you aren’t smart or hard-working. It doesn’t mean you aren’t cut out for biology or research. If you end up dropping, all it means is that this class didn’t work out for you for whatever reason. For me, it didn’t work out because I had bad habits, took it for the wrong reasons, had too big an ego to ask for help before I needed it, and had a terrible schedule. It took me a lot of time to correct those things. Whatever the cause, sometimes you need to drop to focus on other parts of your life. There will be other classes and opportunities - don’t worry!

All that said, be happy! Maybe you have none of the issues I did, and this is an amazing class for you - awesome! Maybe you end up withdrawing or dropping like I did and figure out some other parts of your life - also awesome! This was a lot of advice, but depending on how you approach the class it can be a really positive experience or a negative one. It’s entirely possible to make great grades and have a healthy & social life and be totally happy in this class! Even though it didn’t work out for me, I still really value the learning experience. Whatever happens, make sure you’re prioritizing your health, mental and physical. If you ever have more questions or want help, feel free to PM me and we can talk about it here or meet on campus! 

Again, congrats on UChicago and best of luck for the next four years!

[bro-study]

let me tell u about my ib ride

y’all it’s my last year in college and i got some things to say! (its a long read lol)

so in hs i was like they hella advanced kid (took honors classes since freshman year) i was basically ib bound the moment i stepped into hs.

honestly nothing...and i mean nothing prepares you for ib (not even college lol).

ib was like 2 years of punishment endured by sisyphus (rolling a stone up a hill and watching it go back down, yes i read it in ib english lol am i sensing foreshadowing???). 

junior year (3rd year of high school) i was like i belong here in ib like i took honors and i know i’m smart. thinking of how well i did in my honors classes i was like this is going to be easy just a little work (lol was i dead wrong).

i remember my first day of FULL ib, it was like i was going to college (at least what i thought was college) honestly, and sitting in my ib english class and being like wow everyone here is at my level or higher.

the first year of ib english, for me ruined my self esteem like hella bad. the first paper i wrote i was told that i “did not get the assignment and on top of that my writing was not at the ib level” and from that day on i constantly felt stupid. like wow do i belong here? why am i here? every assignment i would get back asking me if i did the reading or that i did not understand (btw i did do the reading ms. h!) the nights i spent crying while writing a paper about the themes of a book were honestly my lowest point in life (like honestly i have not felt more useless than that time in my life). But no matter how many tears i shed, no matter how many nights i stayed up i still continued to turn in papers and again get the same results (except like when we had to write that huge paper comparing two books and their themes my teacher was like wow okay i see you lol). 

basically writing is not my strong point for ib but good enough to get A’s in business research classes in college lol. 

do not get me started on ib history (okay imma talk about it). i kind of blame the teacher for making me hate history (i never took a history class in my high school prior to ib we had to take economics and government). it was in the morning and i just felt like wtf i do not understand anything she would talk and talk but none of made sense, the text is so bland and im lost all the time (we took quizzes every day for the chapter reading, which i didn’t do bc i was of course doing other hw lol and i would get 0/10 or 3/10 and i would walk out of class feeling like the dumbest person in the world). i remember talking to her and she told me that maybe ib history should be dropped (like wtf)

so, basically here i’m bad a quizzes but let me tell you about the great depression and its economic impacts.

the one class i enjoyed was ib bio (i was actually pretty good like i got an A my first term like WHAT!!!) and i liked it because i guess in a way my teacher was kind of an asshole that i did not want to be on her bad side so i tried hella hard.

chemistry, not bio, will have special place in my heart (shout out to my soph. chem teacher who was my ib bio HL teacher and who told me i should have taken ib chem instead of bio lol). btw i can not tell you how periods effect the human body even though we spent a whole month learning about it.

anyways the first year of ib (i also took ib math, ib physics [okay honestly i’m still pissed my school made me take ib physics instead of ib art but that another story], ib japanese (ha! a mess truly) and ib tok) i was destroyed like i was an emotional mess my family noticed it and my friends (those that did not leave me bc i would ditch most to go to the library instead of hanging out with them [shout out to the librarian for letting me stay during lunch to do my hw!]) noticed i was not myself. I had bags under my eyes like i looked worn out like really bad. 

and yet after all that i was in full ib my senior year of hs, had i learned nothing?? (lol i didn’t until i took ib physics that is were i draw the line!!)

but thats how all ib kids look right? they complain about having no hours of sleep and have their jumbo cups of coffee? you know the ones that walk in packs talking about how photosynthesis works and the ones that stand outside the library studying in groups waiting to take “that test” in spring.

no, it should not be normalized that kids (YES KIDS, I KNOW HOW MUCH YALL WANNA GROW UP) should have 0 sleep and be expected to do everything colleges want (ok honestly go to a community college save money and transfer over). 

i learned something, college (yes even them “hard” majors) is nothing like ib (even my sis who did partial ib said her private college was easier than ib lol). but let me tell you something, ib taught me my limits and taught me when i know its too much, it also taught me (this is the dark side of ib lol) how to bullshit a paper in a way that teachers are impressed. 

it kind of desensitized me in a way, like nothing seems as stressful as my years in ib, literally nothing (not even my exam that is in 7 hours that i have yet to study for).

anyways for you ib kids out there: YOUR SLEEP, YOUR HEALTH, YOUR HAPPINESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GETTING A 7 ON YOUR IB TEST. LEARN TO SAY NO, LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF, AND LEARN THAT YOU WILL SURVIVE EVEN IF YOU GET A 1.

(lol i got a 2 on my ib japanese exam and look at me, i’m doing fine and btw i have not touched or talked japanese since graduating hs Bp)