DIY Stylus Pen!!!

Hey, guys!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! I hope you will have an amazing year, and make awesome realistic New Year's resolutions!
Today I'm bringing to you a DIY of a stylus pen! Firstly, some pros and cons about it:

Pros:
- it's $0
- it's quick to make
- it's surprisingly precise

Cons:
- it's ugly (unless you know how to change it)
- the tip has to be somewhat moist for the pen to work


So, here's how to make one:

You will need:
- ball-point pen
- scissors
- aluminum foil
- cue tip
- tape
- water/saliva

1. Take out the ink part and a spring from the pen

2. Cut a cue tip in half (one should be smaller than the other)
Make sure you are choosing the better half (the right one, in my case)

3. Re-connect the cup (or whatever it's called) with the pen, leaving the ink part and spring behind

4. Put a cue tip inside the small opening in the cup

5. Wrap aluminum foil around it, making sure that it touches the cue tip

6. Put some tape around the point where cue tip and foil connect

7. Slightly!!! water the cue tip

8. Decorate if you know how to :)

How I Take Notes | Done First Semester!

Hey, guys!

I am 1/8th through my undergraduate career! HOW CRAZY IS THAT? 

In this blog post, I want to share how I take notes on my laptop, as well as show you some of my samples. I'll try to be as detailed as I can in order for you to take use of my methods!

I decided to type my notes for all my classes because it is not only faster but also way more organized and manageable. I still practice the writing component, as I am handwriting my review notes as well as drawing out all of the diagrams. I initially thought that it's pretty impossible to take decent science notes on a laptop, but I was completely wrong...

Before we start, I must mention that I use Microsoft OneNote to type out my notes.

Take for instance my Biology class, before every lecture my prof would post the Power Point online for our convenience, and instead of printing it out and writing it, I type out my lecture notes and then just add the visuals from a PP. I will also be recording my lectures in the next semester since I was occasionally zoning out during Bio, and this particular class doesn't have podcasts.

I also wanna show you what happens if you just have to draw something on your notes by hand. Now, if you have a touchscreen (laptop, tablet, phone) it all works because OneNote syncs with those devices. But basically, all you have to do is draw it on your touchscreen by hand. Here is my version of an attempt (with a mouse)

Forgot to mention, you can also color code the pages, and make them blank, lined, squared, etc. for your comfort.

With Chemistry, I really like to just insert a pdf and annotate on it like so:

Next semester I have:

Biology: Evolution, Diversity, and Humanity

Calculus for Life Sciences (I will take handwritten notes)

Introductory Chemistry 2

Medical Terminology

Neuroscience 

Please, check out the following videos which hold a more comprehensive review of note-typing! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED6DeR6Z4-I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha631y35A9M

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I'm really hoping to post more in 2017! ;) 

My First Semester Review

Hi, guys! My exam season has officially started, and I have already written my physics exam - it went well! This blog post is going to talk about what I thought of my first semester at Mac, and I promise to be as open as I can.

I learned a lot. This semester partially destroyed my confidence, improved my critical thinking skills, taught me that even though you are always surrounded by people, you are on your own, but at the same time, you're not. There is a lot of contradicting statements that I've gone through this semester, and overall - I loved it

1. You are better than you think
I came here very confident in my academic success, and then, after a few evaluations, I realized that I might potentially drop out of the university (a lot of people did!). That's completely not true. The reason why I felt way stupider than others, was that people around me were talking about their grades and achievements, which are better than mine. Although there are certainly very intelligent people out there, the actual majority of those who seem very successful are just social loafers who sit near A students, and receive LOTS of "help".
When they are on their own, though, it doesn't go that well.
Never be overconfident, either! Always strive for better, and even if you already have an A+, improve the actual percentage within that grade.

2. You have to do you homework
Unless you have assignments, no-one will check your daily homework, and if you're not doing it, you will suffer. Some courses have an overwhelming amount of resources available, and that's your job to discover what resource fits you best in the first few weeks of a semester. You must definitely be consistent with your homework, and make sure all of your questions are answered.

3. Understand the concepts!
There is no knowledge questions present on science exams, and you have to understand the actual concepts from top to bottom in order to do well. But that's also not enough, so you have to practice to be able to apply them. Be prepared that you will rarely see same questions with different numbers, so you really have to grasp the concept.

4. Typing notes actually works!!!
I was very skeptical that typing my notes will work better for me, but it did. Not only it is faster, but you can also copy and paste awesome diagrams without much effort. The app I use is Microsoft OneNote, and it gives you a lot of freedom as of the design of the page, your own drawings, the organization of your notes, etc. The only classes it is worth writing your notes is physics, and math, because it's much faster.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=typing+notes&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=826&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIgN6Hq-jQAhVJ82MKHTNtAdkQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=kvOEe2xOAa96aM%3A