Blog posts

Revison Antics

Isobel profile

BSc Biology with a year in Europe

Exams are only five weeks-ish away. The year is enarly over (HOW. HOW HAVE I BEEN HERE FOR A YEAR?!) The weather has (of course) improved drastically just as I chain myself to my desk. Courses are drawing to a close. Oh wow.

So revision. I am terrible at revising, I’ll put my hands up and say it. I just find it very very hard to get started and I inevitably end up taking a lot of tea breaks. And biscuit breaks. And food breaks in general. And of course I need an appropriate spotify playlist for my mood. And the temperature of the room has to be just right – is the window open too wide?

Icy neutrinos and third year options

MSCi Physics

Hello 🙂 This week we have had our options talks for third and fourth year. Choosing is a lot trickier than I’d thought- there are many more interesting options than I can pick, and possible essay titles to think of and projects to decide on… I can do a Horizons (humanities or business course) next year for credit which I am really looking forward to as the courses I have done the past two years have been excellent and communicating science especially really helped me put a lot of what I have been learning in a wider context I am thinking about doing an extended essay building on what I did last year (luckily I got on well with my lecturer and she has very kindly offered to supervise me) so now I just have to think of a title….hmmmm.

Summer term and open-access journals :)

MSCi Physics

It’s the start of summer term! Summer terms are weird—they very so wildly between courses that there is always someone to be found stressing about their imminent exams. Maths, for example in second year has exams in two weeks, no new courses and then a group project—I have exams in five weeks, two new courses and after that am completely free, and Chemists (poor, poor over-worked beings) have three new courses a—reduced—eight hours a week of labs and exams scattered here there and everywhere. Oh well. It’s always nice knowing that someone is working harder than you!

For the rest of the blog I thought I would write a little bit about open-access Science Journals.

Easter Adventures

Isobel profile

BSc Biology with a year in Europe

FEAR NOT FRIENDS I am back in London after a lovely Easter and ready to regale you with exciting tales of what I did over the break (no really, I’m not being sarcastic, it was fabulous)

In the first week of the four week break (Uni holidays are THE BEST, they are SO LONG!) I went on a mini break to Madrid with one of my school friends to visit another friend who is currently working there as an au pair. We arrived horrendously early for our flight as we’d never flown without our parents before and were terrified of being late!

What really happens during a “revision day”

MBBS Medicine

We all have unreasonable expectations about how much we will be able to revise during the day. We wake up with a “LET’S DO THIS” attitude that seems to dwindle before you have even made it down for breakfast.

A few years ago my dad gave me some ‘advice’ before exam revision began.

“There are 24 hours in a day. Take away 8 hours for sleep that leaves you with 16 hours. Minus time for eating your 3 meals and you are down to 14 hours. Maybe minus an hour for general faffing around and toilet breaks and you are left with a solid 13 hours to revise.”

Skiing and a spot of art…

MSCi Physics

Happy Easter everyone! I have just got back from skiing last week with my family in France which was brilliant fun 🙂 🙂 It is almost the end of the skiing season now, but we were high up in a resort called Val Thorens, which is full of ugly buildings but great skiing! We had beautiful sunshine on every day except for the last, plenty of snow and I managed to keep the small French ski-school child sat next to me successfully on the chair-lift . It also has the highest zip wire in the world which was frustratingly closed every time I tried to jump on.

Top Ten Luxury Items at Uni

Jelle profile

BSc Biochemistry

10.  Water Filter

    I must confess that before I cam to London I scoffed at people who bought water filters or, even worse, litres and litres and litres of bottled water. These were usually the people who complain about ‘water hardness’ and wax lyrical about ‘mineral-filtered groundwater’– the proselytising vegans of the aqueous world.  Imagine my surprise when limescale turned out to actually be a thing, when the sinks cheerfully spat out bitter mineral-tasting water, and when I found myself ordering a filter from Amazon, much to the envy of my floormates. Plus, there’s something unbearably posh about pouring water from a carafe at dinner.

‘Advice’ for First Year Medical Exams

MBBS Medicine

I have sought advice over the past few weeks from various “elders” of the medical school with the mission of finding the best advice possible to do well in first year medical exams. I have compiled the advice together and hopefully you will be helped as much as I was. Note: Most of this advice is generally unhelpful.

“Fear not young freshers, it only gets worse. Brave through exams and be prepared for worse in years to come”

“Don’t work, freshers!!! You can’t fail first year…well…okay you can. Maybe do some work…okay work hard.”

“I had 3 breakdowns over Easter of first year.

I know I said I wasn’t blogging over Easter buuut…

Isobel profile

BSc Biology with a year in Europe

I just can’t stay away. I received a really good comment on an old post recently which I wanted to give a decent, long answer to publicly as I think it asks some great questions which will be relevant to many people thinking about choosing their firm and insurance universities very soon! The comment was thus:

Hi, I’ve got an offer to come to Imperial this year to study Biology, I’ve already got my grades because I took a gap year, but I am torn between choosing York and Imperial primarily because York has been ranked higher for student satisfaction and I’m worried going to Imperial I may slightly miss out on the ‘student experience’ living in London.

Learn more about life at Imperial

London skyline silhouette London skyline silhouette