Ahmed Syed

What a week its been, having gone very fast indeed - The Easter break is now here! I'm pleased that things have been going a bit better both this semester overall and also in the last week of term. I enjoyed this weeks lectures on #BS1006 where we studied the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and how this affects the activity of the Heart. Lectures on Renal physiology were also very much intriguing if I do say so myself, made better with the level of enthusiasm of putting points across by all of my lecturers on this module. I was allocated to do the 1st practical for this module (In addition to the compulsory 3rd) on using the Electromyogram, something which I found initially a bit overwhelming as I'm not used to using such apparatus. However, looking at the bigger picture and the take home message from the practical I feel it was well worth it and has aided in my understanding of Muscle and nerve physiology, also of course providing useful knowledge as to how apparatus as such can be... more... - Ahmed Syed

Hmm this week didn't go quite as planned unfortunately as I felt on occasion that I wasn't making the best use of free time. However, I endeavour to change this for next week in order to possibly compensate and get me back up to speed so that I can hopefully give my FULL attention to revision for the exams. Lectures on the other hand are going very well, I enjoyed learning about skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles coupled with their physiology for #BS1006 in Dr Mitcheson's lectures. Although I felt that content knowledge wise Dr Grubb's lecture on the Autonomic nervous system (ANS) was a little bit hard to get my head round - I however found it very useful and interesting especially as he put his points across in a very helpful manner by highlighting the key aspects in this topic area which need being learnt. #BS1008 lectures have also been good, I'm pleased Dr Drea did a revision class/lecture to go over everything covered so far in the module in addition to Dr Barber's input on... more... - Ahmed Syed

This week went well thankfully, I'm pleased to say that I'm really enjoying the #BS1006 module and found the practical (Compulsory - 3rd) this week very helpful. Just need to get the write-up/questions answered ASAP. The lectures on Nerve and Muscle physiology have certainly sustained my interest and I hope that this continues. #BS1008 is also going well, I'm glad that I'm taking in a lot more than before when the lectures on this module started, and also hope I can carry on doing this. Just need to get myself up to speed with this weeks #BS1011 assignment and of course revision for the completed/finished being taught modules. I got back my essay and presentation mark for #BS1013 near the end of the week, wasn't bad but not brilliant either, I'm pleased however I know where I can improve for future essays. I'm glad that I FINALLY managed to apply for Student finance 2011-2012 as it was something which I kept on delaying - quite a relief. I did manage to look over module choices for... more... - Ahmed Syed

I'm very pleased and glad that last week wasn't as much "full on" as have been others this semester, hence the start of new modules and differences in the timetable. Speaking of which, #BS1006 and #BS1008 have both sustained my interest so far considering that the material covered is quite different from what I've been learning from previous modules.Consequently bringing about a pleasant change, having complete focus on Human biology/physiology for example in terms of the content covered so far in #BS1006 as opposed to studying other organism systems too. One slight problem experienced in my case however, I've found the jump from one extreme to the next a little bit overwhelming to be honest as before my timetable was considerably packed but now it's essentially emptied down. Hmm I just hope I can make the most of this available free time for the following days to utilize for catching up with work and of course revision etc as it's well too easy to deliberately/indeliberately not make the most of time. - Ahmed Syed

Wow, What a week it's been - busy, busy, busy. I'm definitely pleased however that all the work which was due has been handed in for marking, something which I HOPE and shall endeavour to keep up, I Also hope to complete the essay for #BS1009 over the weekend. This week also marked the end of all three of my modules: #BS1009, #BS1005 and #BS1013 for lectures, tutorials and the practicals. Just need to get the practical reports handed in which I intend to do after the essay for #BS1009 and ofcourse this weeks assessment for #BS1011. Definitely looking forward to the #BS1006 module which I believe starts as of next week and ofcourse #BS1008. I'm pleased now that we study one less module for the remainder of this semester compared to before I can hopefully use the free time to catch up with and consolidate on lecture notes and other relevant materials, and ofcourse if possible make headways for revision for the completed modules as I TOO hate doing things on the last moment where it can be helped. - Ahmed Syed

Last week had been quite a challenge as I unfortunately fell a bit behind with the workload but that aside I'm pleased that I managed to complete work on time, including the practical write up for #BS1013 and the first assessed practical report for #BS1005 and also the essay bullet points on "Bluebells" However I'm convinced that in order to maintain this, some serious hard work and time management is necessary which I sincerely hope I can commit to. I definitely need to get more work done for the upcoming essays on #BS1005 and #BS1009 and have lecture notes written up and consolidated ASAP as leaving work to the last minute is something which I'm trying to avoid. - Ahmed Syed

Do you keep a diary or planner of what work you are going to do when - and stick to it? - Dr Alan Cann

I don't, No, I instead tend to write what needs being done as part of my work schedule on a piece of paper and for when - it works better for me I think as it's more visual, crossing off and adding things as is appropriate. As for sticking to it, I prioritize by flagging up deadlines for assessed and urgent work in RED and using an asterisque and try doing those ASAP. Thankfully from... more... - Ahmed Syed

I'm pleased to say that last week had been better than the one before as I started to get more used to the Semester 2 timetable and generally felt better when trying to manage the workload. I've however got plenty of work to be doing and plenty of preperation for due assignments etc. I'm very much previleged to have helpful demonstrators in the practicals who make things easier generally, but I still as an individual need plenty more practice with these. - Ahmed Syed

The 1st week into the 2nd semester had generally been quite demanding as I've now got 3 practical classes per week as opposed to 2 last semester. I'm pleased however that I have the opportunity to make the most out of them and hopefully learn from my mistakes from before. I've also found it very useful to print out the lecture notes to take with me to each lecture for annotation as this is something which I didn't do very well last term, I'm pleased that this helps my personal learning and helps me to keep better organized. I felt quite lost in the #BS1009 lecture on Friday without a copy for annotation and hope that this can in future be avoided. The tutorials have been very interesting and helpful for #BS1005 and #BS1013, helping consolidate the material taught in lectures, even though they both consist of essays as part of assessment I'm hoping to get the most out of them and to not leave any work to the last minute. - Ahmed Syed

I've realized throughout the course of the term that moving from School/College to University brings about quite a steep transition, not neccessarily in terms of the difficulty of work but more so in terms of how as Undergraduate students we are required to adapt to the change and conduct ourselves accordingly. Most importantly I've learnt that as we are very individual and independent as Undergraduate students, being treated as adults it's absolutely vital to keep on top of the work load as we solely our responsible for doing so. This would include to name a few, preparing in advance of lectures, tutorials and practical classes and also making sure that falling behind where it can be helped is kept to a minimum as considering the work load it can be very much a "slippery slope" something which can easily affect an individual in almost every way but can be avoided with efficient time managment, preperation and organization. - Ahmed Syed

Campbell and Reece!! .. I've made my module notes and Tom Matheson uses Campbell and Reece for his part of the module! So the lectures are supported well with the background information from the text book :). - Neelam Dave

Thanks everyone - Ahmed Syed

I agree, I found it so useful. Funnily, I found that the topics i was most confident on were the ones that I made most mistakes on as I didn't focus as much on learning the details in order to understand them. Therefore is a good way of highlighting any revision problems. - Ramila Afshari

Its motivated me loads to get on with revision now! - Sajjal Abbas