Blog posts

Things you need to know about taking lecture note :P

Henry Xu profile

BSc Biological Sciences

Taking clear and well-organised lecture notes is not only important for later revision, but also helps to keep up with the lecture pace. Here are some things that you need to know about lecture notes taking.

1> Straight copy from lecture PPT is pointless: Really, why would you even bother going to lectures if you are just gonna copy stuff from PPT. In University lectures, most lecturers don’t just read stuff he wrote in PPT, instead he talks about stuff that’s elaborated based on the slides. Focus more on what the lecturer says and writes in the lecture 😛

2> Get enough sleep before lecture: A good night sleep will definitely help you concentrate on the lectures (especially during the lectures that you find boring).

Theatre Culture

Amanda Koh profile

BEng Computing

When I first visited London one of the first things I noticed was the ridiculous amount of ads that plastered the walls of tube stations. As you stood on a crazy long escalator you were bombarded with things to buy, shows to see, online shopping sites to try… etc. But the thing that really interested me were the shows.

The theatre culture in London is awesome, there are a huge variety of shows from musicals, Shakespeare, the latest book adaptation, comedies and more. The musicals with never ending runs, like Billy Elliot, Lion King, Les Miserables and other ‘classics’ are more targeted at tourists who want to experience the theatre culture, rather than the ‘theatre connoisseur’ who enjoys frequenting more obscure productions.

Spring test from a procrastinator point of view

Dora profile

MEng Chemical Engineering

The Spring test is some kind of “preparation” for the final exams in May/June. A “taster”, where we can get to know what kind of problems to expect, how to deal with exam stress, how to use the calculator… It counts 5% in the end of year mark, which is lower than the Matlab test (6%). That’s where things went wrong…

Not every subject is “spring test subject”, only Fluid Mechanics, Properties of Matter, Mathematics, Thermodynamics and Process Analysis. And even from these, not every lecture is “spring test material”, just the previously specified ones… And we were told that we shouldn’t worry, it’s an easy test, we should spend about a week on revision, that is more than enough.

“You’re a medic…. but they don’t do any work!”

MBBS Medicine

Over the last year I have started to understand how non-medical students view medical students. This has been very interesting, enlightening and somewhat frustrating at times, in the form of debates over the dinner table to overhearing conversations about medical students in SAFB (I mean if you are going to voice your opinion you could pick a better building to sit in than the medics building!). So as I prepare to spend some time with non-medics, I thought I would write a blog to dispel any myths about Imperial medical students.

“Medics never do any work” This was the first opinion that I heard about medics and started a long dinner table discussion. 

How different is it between the sample paper they provided and the actual exam paper I had :P

Henry Xu profile

BSc Biological Sciences

This discussion is dedicated for the prospective Biologists at Imperial. Here is what you are going to have in a Biology exam at Imperial. We have four modules during the first year and each module will have an exam eventually. So there are four exams each year. In every exam, there will be three sections.

1> 40 Multiple (5) choices questions:

Negative marking system is something you should be aware of. Don’t guess the answers and only answer what you are most confident with is the whole point of this system. (And I’m not a big fan of this tbh :P) Most multiple choice questions in the mock paper (only a mock paper provided for each term) of the first two modules (BCM and OB) are unchanged for the last two years, so there really isn’t much you can get from the MCQ in mock paper.

祝全体海外中国留学生新年快乐，猴年大吉！Happy Chinese New Year!

Henry Xu profile

BSc Biological Sciences

借助帝国学生博客的平台，Henry在这里祝全体海外中国留学生新年快乐，猴年大吉，新年新气象！(不要太想家啊~）

By the courtesy of Imperial student blogger platform, I would like to express my sincerest wishes to all the Chinese overseas students studying abroad a very happy Chinese new year!  (Try not to get too homesick! 😛 )

Now quite a few of my Chinese readers have requested for a post about the Chinese experience in London. And in response to your request, I will make this post in short time. I can assure you that it’s never too boring to be a Chinese in London 😛 😛 😛 (Enough said, you’ll see more from this special post later this month)

What Henry did for his revision :P

Henry Xu profile

BSc Biological Sciences

I’ve got some emails from my beloved readers, asking for my revision techniques. So I though I’d do a discussion on how I revise for exams. It is really up to you to decide which method suits you best so my version is certainly not a perfect example. I humbly present to you……the revision notes!

I enjoy making revision notes after having that lecture (usually on weekends or over free time). The key difference between revision notes and lecture notes is that processed information are being listed in a logical manner with key annotations. Here are a few points I’d like to provide before posting an example of my revision notes:

1> Keep the wording short and concise: Trust you don’t want to read some hideous long paragraphs in some midnight to prepare for exams!

How much information is there in BCM (Biochemistry and Microbiology) :P

Henry Xu profile

BSc Biological Sciences

Congratulations if you have studied A-level Chemistry or any level in equivalence in high school! Cause the first two sections of BCM largely contain information about Chemistry. If you didn’t learn A-level Chemistry, that’s fine! (It’s not the end of the world!) The part of Chemistry involved in Biology is not that much. (Frankly you only need to know elements like C, O, H. N from the periodic table!)

For the first section, Chemistry of biomolecules, instead of going through the PPT in lectures, pre-recorded lecture videos are provided to watch and learn in your own time. You will need to answer questions in lectures.

A Week In The Life of a Final Year

Isobel profile

BSc Biology with a year in Europe

Monday

No class in the morning at the moment so I sleep in for a bit. I do a bit of lifemin (life admin), checking emails, putting on some laundry etc. I have lunch and then head out to meet my group before our afternoon lectures. We’re working on a presentation where we need to pick one area of neuroscience (which is the course we’re doing at the moment) and then present for 20 minutes to teach the rest of the class something new. We’ve chosen to focus on phantom limb syndrome – a pain syndrome where amputees can still feel sensations, including very real pain, coming from where their limb should be.

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