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The SSMB School/University Thread; Also a Homework Help Topic


-Robin-

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(If a similar thread has been created recently, then I apologize, and request for this to either be locked, or merged with the existing thread.)

Do you go to middle school, high school, or a boarding school? Are you a university student? Got something school-related you want to share, such as school life, or need to get off your chest, like bullies or struggles with homework? Then this is the place.

Just post your experiences with academic life here. If there's an issue you want advice on, such as homework or problems with school, then perhaps someone can help out!

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I'll start with my life: I'm a senior in college at the moment, currently working towards a major in History, and am considering going for a minor in History of Science, or Criminal Justice (particularly in the Forensics field.) The semester is drawing to a close, and I have an issue with what is up ahead. Most of my classes have given me the guidelines for the final exams; since all my classes this semester are History classes, that means I have a metric ton of papers to write. Within the next three weeks, I have:

1) A 1,250 word paper on Hurricane Katrina due Thursday.

2) A 3 page paper on the Tale of Kieu due Friday.

3) A 2,000-2,500 word paper on the process of the United States Supreme Court functions in the 20th century due next Monday.

4) A 2,000-2,500 word paper on the general do's and don'ts of writing from a historical perspective due on the 15th.

5) A 2,500-3,000 word paper on international law and unilateralism due on the 15th.

Needless to say, this is A LOT of writing I need to get done in a short amount of time, around 35 pages worth overall. So it's apparent that I need to have a good grasp on what to write.

...the issue is that there are certain areas that I have conflicts with when I write a paper. I know the material and content I need to complete the paper requirements, for sure, but the problems I have often lead me to finishing the paper with ten minutes left on the clock, with a good quarter to a third of the paper being padding and filler. This is something I want to avoid this time, as time I spend on writing and cramming one paper could have been used to complete the next paper. I spend a good 90 minutes trying to figure out how to start and write the first paragraph of the paper, so it's imperative that I do something about it.

Does anyone have any particular writing techniques that they employ when writing? A specific style in starting a report? A certain style to prevent repeating words and adding in pointless filler? Any exercises that they use to help get focused on the paper, or a specific section? I'm all ears.

Edited by Icy Wind
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The first thing you should always do is sprawl some ideas down on exactly the points you want to address. The ideas for the filling around it branch naturally if you do that. The worst thing you can do is face it in a linear fashion if you need some time to go back to it.

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Man, where do I start? Alright, so I'm a freshman in High School, yay. Big whoop.

2 out of 4 of my classes this semester are a cakewalk, and I can easily focus on the other 2, so that's great. So I really need to focus on 2 big classes: Algebra I and AP World History. Algebra I is standard math fare, and I dislike math, but eh, what can you do? My biggest class is the aforementioned AP World History. It would be really easy... if I could study for it.

The work tends to pertain to the reading, and the reading is way long. Combine that with procrastination and forgetfulness and you do not get a happy report card. I was wondering if anyone had advice to coping with procrastination. It's really the only thing holding me back from doing good in this class.

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I feel threatened here! bwahaha... man.

I'm done with my own schooling for the time being but I want to go for a doctorate soon <3

I was an adjunct professor (bio major) briefly, but my passion lies in grade school so I'm there now.

I'm always available for all kinds of homework help. I can do many kinds of college bio, and tutored for general chemistry and organic chemistry. In secondary school, all sciences, math up to calculus, and maaaaaaybe english I can do just fine.

Feel free to message me for help/advice! Just don't expect a real quick turn around! smile.png

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Man, where do I start? Alright, so I'm a freshman in High School, yay. Big whoop.

2 out of 4 of my classes this semester are a cakewalk, and I can easily focus on the other 2, so that's great. So I really need to focus on 2 big classes: Algebra I and AP World History. Algebra I is standard math fare, and I dislike math, but eh, what can you do? My biggest class is the aforementioned AP World History. It would be really easy... if I could study for it.

The work tends to pertain to the reading, and the reading is way long. Combine that with procrastination and forgetfulness and you do not get a happy report card. I was wondering if anyone had advice to coping with procrastination. It's really the only thing holding me back from doing good in this class.

Oh boy, I'm a freshman at high school as well, and procrastinating is my biggest enemy in terms of school. But recently I've found a solution, after school or after a club/sport, get home, don't touch any media like the computer and whatever, finish the homework/get started on that one project, and then get on the computer.

Any older members here, please tell me if this is bad advice.

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Freshman in College, major being Software Development; might take a detour towards Systems and Security if that doesn't work out.

I have:

1.) An oral presentation for Eng. on Friday with a written component

2.) A blog entry on how I thought about Eng. class and if I would recommend it to undergrads (i.e. kissing ass) due on Sunday.

3.) A working draft of a 3-page paper due Monday for Eng.

4.) A final draft of another 3-page paper due Monday for Eng.

5.) A movie I have to get around to watching

6.) A 750 word essay about elements of that movie due Tuesday(?)

7.) Finals

8.) And I'm wearing sunglasses

These next seven days man...

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Anyway, I'm a freshman at highschool. Most of my classes like English, World History, Bio, and Spanish II are pretty good for me and I can finish the work without much of a hassle. The only places I seem to be struggling with are Algebra II and JavaScript in my computer programming class.

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I think the introduction is the hardest part of any paper. I just summarize what I'm going to write about on it. Try saving the introduction for last and get straight to the points, then come back to it once you have your paper together.

I'm in my sophmore year of college about to get an associate's in arts but I've recently decided to go into the field of music, specifically composition. Maybe I'll work for sega and do some music for the 25 anniversary sonic game! laugh.png ........ or not sad.png. This is my last semester of core basics that you will never use afterwards so I'm just struggling to get this shit done at the moment so that next semester I can start classes of what I want to focus on. It's really just a struggle to get this core crap I'm never going to use out of the way. I have a few tests next week and several computer business assignments to do this week. Ugh!

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Oh joy, school.

Up until last year, I was a decently-hard working student - I actually did the bullshit busy work activities that teachers handed out, completed everything on time, did well on tests, and such. Never ditched school, got good grades, took my AP classes like a good little boy, etc.

Then (this year) I was shipped off to Spain for the equivalent of junior year/11th grade (primero bachillerato). I headed into the year with absolutely no knowledge of Spanish, and so sitting through the classes not understanding anything and just waiting for them to end was pure torture. Knowing that I wouldn't be receiving credits for most of my classes just made this worse, as I felt I had no purpose being there. So I began ditching class, and wouldn't you know it, that quickly became a habit.

The workload here is far easier than it ever was in the States - I haven't had homework at all this year, and I don't have to try in any of my classes as they're all courses I've taken before. It's a new feeling.... and I like it too much.

When it comes time to return to the States, I don't know how I'm going to readjust to actual work - now that I know what freedom tastes like, it's gonna be incredibly difficult to go back to slaving away like I was doing before. I have a feeling that the quality of my work is going to suffer drastically - that is, if I manage to motivate myself to do it at all, and I'm going to have a hard time forcing myself to continuously attend school. Before leaving the States, I almost never missed a day of school. Here, I have yet to attend an entire uninterrupted week of school.

I need motivation to work again. Help?

Edited by Hohohovarloard
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don't touch any media like the computer and whatever, finish the homework/get started on that one project, and then get on the computer.

Which is absolutely impossible for me. Do I have any new notifications? How's the Skype Chat going? What about my Youtube inbox?

I am absolutely restless until I know.

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xD It's really difficult for me too. I'm just thinking, okay, do a decent job on this, and I can get on the computer, SSMB, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Then I go on, and it's all fine until the occasional moment when my mom or dad makes me get off the computer, and tells me to study because I have too much free time.

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Oh, I love bitching about school.

I guess I'll start with bitching about teachers. So I've got this Physics teacher who doesn't teach, instead having us watch videos on Youtube which honestly I think are shit because the guy who makes them tends to ramble and I don't learn anything, so I just write BSed notes and teach myself.

Then there's my English teacher who doesn't teach enough because she spends the first twenty minutes of class organizing her stuff or something and addressing individual concerns. When she finally does start teaching it usually goes nowhere because my class is full of ignorant children who don't care. It almost makes me regret taking Honors instead of AP. Hell, my teacher doesn't even check my notes anymore because she knows I do them so well compared to the rest of the class, without even any effort.

And then there's my most bullshit teacher for AP US History, who honestly is probably too old to be teaching because he forgets fucking everything. His classes all go at the same pace, we all have the same due dates, yet he always manages to forget to tell half of them when their work is due. He's great at teaching but he can't manage the other aspects of being a teacher. He got everyone especially pissed at him when he curved our test grades down... because he thinks we're not good enough to deserve any more than a B. Whatever the fuck that means.

I've also got AP Art which is a wonderful class with wonderful people and I love it, and AP Calculus which is the worst class I've ever had the displeasure of taking because it's tough as nails especially as a junior in high school, but at least there's no bullshit.

In an fantastic case of irony my easiest class is a dual enrollment course for computers. It's laughable. One chapter per week and I generally take two days to finish and spend the other three doing homework for other classes. Thankfully my final is tomorrow and next semester I'm taking a Photoshop class instead.

So yeah. Fuck school, and so on and so forth. On top of my final (which should be easy anyway) I've got a mock exam for AP Calc tomorrow which I'm so incredibly stressed about and think I'm going to fail horribly and I just hardly even care at this point, I just want it over with and put behind me.

I really should be studying right now, actually. Though I don't even know decent studying habits. So I feel like it would b a bit of a waste of time.

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I'm in my third and fourth AP classes now, AP Language & Composition and AP World History, having taken and passed (4/5 on the exam for both) AP Psychology and AP Human Geography last year as a high school freshman.

My hardest class at the moment? Honors Chemistry. I have a great teacher, but fuck this stuff is hard for me to wrap my head around. :/

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That's probably the best thing you could do. All throughout high school, that's what I tried doing... I was never able to actually do it. tongue.png I would always do my homework in the morning, before school, which you should always avoid doing. Seriously, bad idea.

Coming from experience as a current HS Sophomore, this is very good advice. And by "from experience", I mean I'm currently on the computer instead of doing the homework I should be doing that I'll probably end up doing tomorrow morning before school.

Edited by Ekaje
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I'm a freshman college student taking generals at a community college just to get them out of the way (and save some dough). You can probably see why I don't really care that much when it comes to classes. I'm much more focused on getting more hours at work these days, those diamond short-shorts won't buy themselves. I have a system that works for me, and since I don't need straight A's the stress of schoolwork only comes up... once or twice a month.

I am taking four or five classes a semester, and I tell myself that I am allowed one class with a B or C grade, and all the others have to be A's. That way I still keep at least a 3.5 GPA (only need a 2.8 to transfer to Uni). This lets me slack off as much as I need to as long as I keep within those parameters. That may seem impossible to control...

BUT I MAKE IT WORK

Edited by Big Ran Over By A Reindeer
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I actually do my math homework every afternoon in the hour we have for lunch. If all fails, random numbers get thrown in. Worked last year, and it works this year too.

Also the two kids who sit next to me in Algebra I won't ever leave me the fuck alone. The Sophmore is always trying to look on my screen, and the freshman girl is always bothering me. Some others to an extent, but not as bad as these two. A lot of what I hear is "JOHN I MADE YOU A FACEBOOK" "JOHN I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE" "JOHN I USED YOUR NAME ON CLUB PENGUIN REMEMBER THAT GAME YEAH I MADE AN ACCOUNT COOL HUH" "WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK"

aaaa make it stop

EDIT: Also, I'm alternating between SSMB and a map for AP World History. Yes, we do maps, my teacher is kickass like that. Only snag is that there are SO MANY DAMN PLACES TO CHART

also whoever makes the best map gets a week in the cool comfy wheelie chair

i haven't won yet

Edited by Colar Bear
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That's no good, man. sad.png Really. I know it's extremely difficult, but you have to seriously try your best to get your homework finished. Trust me when I say I know that's easier said than done. I had total ADD when it came to school. When trying to do my homework, literally anything in the room was more interesting and enough to grab my attention. A tiny hole in my sock, the tile design on the floor... hell, even a piece of string. >_> I can't focus on things I'm generally just not interested in for the life of me. I can have a conversation with people on just about anything... but when you bring in math and start to talk about equations and bullshit like that, my brain shuts off. tongue.png Also, I always said this, but I wouldn't have minded high school if I didn't have to wake up so goddamn early. Expecting me to do chemistry at 8:00 in the morning was ridiculous. If there's one piece of advice for younger members that I can't stress enough, it has to be this:

IF YOU'RE IN HIGH SCHOOL, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY: GET ENOUGH SLEEP.

i love sleep, but i haven't been getting much

fuck

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Tell that to the copy of Persona 4 spinning around in my PS2.

*Starts yelling*

... It knows when I want to go to bed! IT KNOWS!

*Men in suits come in and begin dragging me away*

It's mocking me! It's mocking me in my sleep! I swear! One day you'll all...

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It is currently 10:30, I have to go to bed at 11, I have to jot down notes from 10+ pages of the chapter we were working on this week, and this, along with the test I had earlier this week that I spent all of 10 minutes studying for and that project due within a week that I had a month to start working on are going to be the most significant grades this marking period. I regret ever taking Honors History. I can NOT stay awake in that class when I have it first period in the morning and the most boring teacher who spends the whole period lecturing. I've dealt with lecturing teachers before, but the circumstances this time couldn't be any worse. After cheesing through US History last year, I thought Honors would be a peace of cake, too bad the Civil War was the last interesting thing to happen in US History, so now this year we're going through all the uneventfull shit that happens after that, and by God, NOTHING HAPPENS!

Did I mention that I'm a world class procrastinator?

Edited by Black Spy
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I'm not at university any more *sob*

I finished my masters this year and now I'm a grown up who just works, although I work as a freelance copwriter which is awesome. I studied Creative Writing at university and then did a masters in Writing for Young People. When I'm not writing...I'm writing lol and when I'm not doing that I'm reading because I write YA book reviews too.

I coped with school and college by:

Having one or two really good friends to hang about with

But also realising that my future is more important that the present, saying no to hang out with them so I could do work isn't a bad thing.

Doing my work. Any homework I had was done when I get home, before dinner, before I watched TV etc. Then I could go and have fun without worrying about it or rushing it all on Sunday.

Sleep.

Ask for help. You might hate school right now, college might be really hard, university might be kicking your ass, and if it is then get help, that's what the staff are there for. To teach and to help you.

Also, enjoy it. It doesn't last long and once it's over, it's over. I loved university. I love my life now as well, but I do miss the silliness of living with friends.

I loved school for the learning part, I really love learning things. I hated it for the stupid drama, friends who weren't very good friends, people who disrupted the class, teachers who didn't listen, the strictness of timetables that suck the fun out of everything, having to study things I wasn't interested in...and so on. BUT I loooooooved university because none of that stuff happened any more. I also loved being home schooled because again, those things didn't exist.

Also, to be totally condescending: Awwwww I love when people think that 3,000 words is a lot <3 I had to write a 40K novel this year as well as various 5,000 word essays and the odd 1-2,000 word bits and pieces. Also condensing a 40K novel down into a 200 word synopsis is possibly the hardest piece of writing I have ever done.

It gets easier x

Edited by Mollfie
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What a coincidence... I was just planning on making a topic, asking for advice on my Flash Final. Can't really ask anything now, since I don't have much information, so I'll be back later.

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I'm taking Computing AS, can someone please explain De Morgan's theory?

De Morgan did a lot of different stuff if I recall, it is hard to know specifically what theories you are asking about. Like in general logic class we were told De Morgan's Law (easy, I know). That is probably different from what you want to know in computing.

- (A & B )= (- A) or (- B )

- (A or B )= (- A) & (- B )

I don't think 3000 words is necessarily hard, it just... isn't easy depending on the subject. Sometimes I write and I get so caught up in what I'm going to say that I get thousands of words over the necessary amount, and other times I can't reach the minimum. If you really like the subject you're writing about then a word count is nothing.

Edited by Big Ran Over By A Reindeer
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Also, to be totally condescending: Awwwww I love when people think that 3,000 words is a lot <3 I had to write a 40K novel this year as well as various 5,000 word essays and the odd 1-2,000 word bits and pieces. Also condensing a 40K novel down into a 200 word synopsis is possibly the hardest piece of writing I have ever done.

It gets easier x

Pfft, you'd probably weep at the sight of all the Harvard references even my 6 bullet point scribbles are required to have. ;)

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Recently sat in at a lecture at the local university as part of their guided tour. The lecture, on the history of philosophy, was just as uninspired and stereotyped as the activities of most of the students on the campus. Everything seemed run according to an old pattern, everyone was doing the same thing, and the exaggerated gaiety on the boyish faces looked depressingly empty and ready-made.

I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I just could not get into the school. I'm probably looking too much into this; I have, after all, applied to ten other schools.

Edited by leave_nothing
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