[#7] – Chemistry 102 – Introductory University Chemistry II

Today’s post marks the second half of my introductory chemistry experience.  After living through a less than ideal outing of Chem 101, I was motivated to try harder, and to do better, in Chem 102.  I had begun to adopt my much ignored, and often overlooked, high school motto: “Fortuna audaces iuvat,” which is Latin for: “Fortune Favors The Strong.” (Or at least, I think it was my high school motto … Either that, or I saw it on a bumper sticker once)

 

Batteries (a.k.a. electrochemical cells) were one of the many things that we studied in this course.

 

——–

Preamble:

Alas, as I was still a naive first year, my outlook was plagued by a false sense of entitlement.  I believed, erroneously, that the harder I worked, in terms of effort, the better my grades would be.  I did not take into account the most important thing of all … working smart; studying intelligently.  One could read the textbook, scrutinizing every word, until the cows come home, and yet, not know a thing about how to successfully solve problems come exam time.  In order to achieve a truly remarkable grade in courses such as chemistry, a fair amount of time must be spent doing practice problems.  I wasn’t aware of this, at the time, however.  It was remiss of me, I know; I am all the more wiser, though. 

[#3] – English 122 – Texts and Contexts

English, at the University level, is a member of what I like to call: The Terrible Two.  “The Terrible Two,” or TTT for short, consists of two vehemently dreaded courses that many undergraduates are required to take at some point during their academic careers.  TTT is comprised of the aforementioned English, and its diametrically opposed ‘evil’ sibling, Physics.  Today’s post will be directed exclusively towards English … I will have to tackle its uncouth relative on a later date.  Let’s spare no time and get started!

English Class ... whyz its importent ne wayz?

——–

Preamble:

As I stated in the opening paragraph, for whatever reason, countless students attach a negative stigma to English courses in general.  I have observed that this mindset is adopted very early in life; possibly as early as elementary (primary) school.  Perhaps people don’t like it because they believe it is far too subjective; maybe they’ve had a poor teacher once, or twice, or thrice …  The bottom line, however, is that there are an innumerable amount of reasons for people’s overall disdain for this subject.  With that said, the only thing we can know for certain, is the fact that many students simply do not want to take an English course (but must, because of university policy; prerequisite requirements; etc.)

An Introduction

Hey everyone,

After much contemplation, I’ve finally decided to hop on the bandwagon -so to speak- and start an online blog.  My name is Brandon; I’ve recently completed my second year of study at the University of Alberta and am slated to begin my third year in September.  For all intents and purposes, I hope to share with you the insight, tips, and tricks that I have accrued throughout my undergrad (thus far).

A (not so) brief back-story:

I often look back fondly on my high school years; they were, for lack of a better word, excellent.  I was able to expend minimal effort and still maintain 95%+ averages in the majority of my classes.  There always seemed to be time to run in races (a big hobby of mine), and to play street hockey with my buddies.  Way back when, course marks were made up of half a dozen or so unit tests and we were given the option to exempt (and therefore not write) most of our final exams.  In other words, high school was extremely forgiving!