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mobbsy91's Grow Your Grades Blog

What I study and where...
I'm currently in my second year at UEA, studying Business Finance & Economics! In that I have 4 modules: Intermediate Economics, Applied Economics Analysis, Financial Accounting and Management Accounting!

What I'm teaching myself...
I'm also trying to teach myself to code! This has had varying successes in the past, but I've just recently started Java, which I'm finding fun, and will be using this blog to blog about that as well... who said GYG has to be just about learning for exams... :ninja:

My aims over this year...
I'm aiming to get a 1st again this year, although will be hard to improve on last year, I want to maintain my level at least! For programming, I also want to get to a good enough stage of Java, that I successfully complete a couple of projects for myself! I'll write about these in the blog when I'm at a stage that I can...!

Current results and stage of learning...
Last year, I managed to achieve a 1st (81%), although I'm a bit miffed that it won't count! In terms of programming, I can do some basic Python, and am fairly good at VBA! I think I haven't been too disorganised so far with uni work, and am pleased with myself at how learning Java is going!

What to expect in my blog...
- I'll be posting lots of pictures of my messy desk/work habits, so be prepared, perhaps also some pictures of my winding down if I do anything worth noting!
- Will obviously update about when I have summative coursework/exams due, and my results on those as I go along...!
- As well as that, expect me to have a bit of a moan about lectures, seminars, and most likely the stuff that I can't do! When I nail something, I may also share that...!
- And also about how my coding is going, with any projects which I start, and the progress of those!
- Will also be posting about any other uni related stuff, likes careers kinda stuff!
- BUT... don't expect necessarily frequent updates!! Probably every 2-3 days I'm hoping during term time, maybe slightly less during holidays! And then some ad-hoc pictures if I can't wait to show any off!

This will all start kind of tonight.... (I also hope to make it look interesting, but apologies in advance if it looks ****!)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

Tanqueray91

All my posts...

1. How My Week Looks - 07/11/16
2. Mid Week Happenings - 10/11/16
3. End of First Week - 14/11/16
4. A New Week: A Very Tired Week I Feel... - 14/11/16
5. Accountability - 16/11/16
6. Another Week Gone By - 21/11/16
7. No Posts... :/ - 27/11/16

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

Kvothe the Arcane

Best of luck @mobbsy91

Reply 3

Tanqueray91

Main Post: How My Week Looks...

I'm hoping to post a screenshot of my timetable each week, and then in my end of week post, look back and see what I actually accomplished (as well as with the mid week posts of course..!)

So, here is my timetable for this week... Not as full as normal because the accounting modules are not on this week because of the Business School having in effect, reading week, which Eco School don't get... At least I get some lectures off!

Otherwise, I had a really productive library session earlier today - got my ~~Economics seminar work completed~~ and half of my Applied Economics done, which goes forward as a possible summative piece...! :redface:

Reply 4

Tanqueray91

Another Post!: Mid Week Happenings...

It's Thursday!! The Apprentice is on tonight :woo:

Anyway, so far this week, I've actually gone to the library a bit more than I was expecting which is pretty decent, and have done some work!!! Today I had a macroeconomic mock test! Let's just say I'm glad it was a mock test... only got about 50% in it... I also finished some summative work for Applied Economics!

For Applied, for 7 weeks, we're basically given a set of questions each week. We do these each week, hand them in in our seminar, and then one from the first half, and one from the second half of the semester is picked, and marked. So, two pieces are marked, and each counts as 10% for our Applied Eco mark! And I just finished the first of the second batch - the first one is being marked at the moment, but I'm confident about the first one! So, tomorrow, got my Applied Eco seminar, and my macro seminar, which I've also finished the seminar work for!! I'm feeling pretty happy with what I've done so far this week!

On the coding side of things, I'm going to share my first project! It's going to be split into bits, and the first bit is going to basically be taking a .csv file, and transferring the contents into a SQL database. This may seem really simple, but I'm still early on in learning Java, and so may take a bit of time for me to work out, but when I do, I plan on sharing the github link, so that anyone can see it, maybe give me tips or learn from it (if it works!). When that's done, I'll then share what the next bit of the project is!!

That's my mid-week update! Hope everyone else has has a good week so far - it's almost the weekend, but keep working hard!!!

Reply 5

Tanqueray91

If anyone's interested, got a few hours in the library at the moment between seminars, so thought I'd start to get my head around using Java with excel...

The library I decided to go with is the Apache POI... and here's the code I've written so far - very very basic, but hey... baby steps :biggrin:

Reply 6

Tanqueray91

End of First Week!

Well, that first week just fleeeew by! Thought I'd post my calendar at the end*, to see that I haven't been too lazy!! Got a few extra library sessions in which was good!

Thursday and Friday I got some seminar work done, and handed in another piece of summative work :woo:

Not much on over the weekend, mainly because I've just been feeling ****ing knackered, and that's not really inductive to working... so, bit deflated by that to be honest, mainly because of what I'll post about in the next post coming in a few mins...

*If you're wondering, the colours don't represent anything :biggrin:

Reply 7

Tanqueray91

A New Week: A Very Tired Week I Feel...

So, today marks the start of week 2 of this blog... week 8 of uni... and I'm just ****ing knackered...

I don't particularly know why to be honest, but I think the fact that I've got some exams in a few weeks for Financial Accounting, Micro and Macro, as well as the continuing Applied Eco hand-ins, and I haven't really done much prep for them... And they're really not that far away - which is really bumming me out to be honest... I also had a mock kind of test last week, which I did **** in, which hasn't really helped inspire me to do lots of work ironically...

Given that rant, I'm going to try and stay positive for this week though! I've got all the lectures back on, but only half the seminars which is nice, and you'll see what I've got planned down below... In terms of coding, which I'm enjoying much more than uni work (no surprise...), I've got a few bits of infrastructure that I need running (virtual server, and a couple of bits set up on there!), and so I'm hoping the next stage to this first stage (which I can't reveal), will be done over the next few days, and then back to the actual program which I'm writing - hence no actual program progression since my post about that...

So, here's my timetable for the week, and hopefully I'll stick to it and maybe even get a few extra library sessions in!

Reply 8

Tanqueray91

Accountability

So, today I was thinking about how I can make my day more productive - what I came up with, was that I don't really have anyone seeing how lazy or productive I've been... So I thought I'd try something tomorrow, and if I like it tomorrow, adapt it and continue it next week...

So, I've made this spreadsheet... It's all automatically calculated, so all I need to do is just put what I'm doing in each 15 mins per the key... Tomorrow evening, just after midnight, I'll post a screenshot of my day tomorrow... If I like it, I'll develop it further, probably make it into a VBA program to make it even simpler and quicker for me to update... let's see how it goes anyway! The data in this one, is just random that I entered... tomorrow will be what work I've actually done!!

(Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out closer - when I've piloted it tomorrow and possibly Friday, I'll refine it and post a new version on Sunday with my end of week update!) There are also apps that do pretty much this, but most are paid for the graphing kind of features that I want, hence my own excel, as it's free...! I'm in the process of trying to get one for free though :colone:

If I do, I'll probably do a comprehensive awesome review on it, as it looks really great! We'll see...

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

Kvothe the Arcane

I've taken your heed and created my own blog Mobbs. Also, can you whatsapp me. I've forgotten your number.

I love your spreadsheet above. Most of mine is probably red.

Reply 10

Tanqueray91

Original post by Kvothe the Arcane

I've taken your heed and created my own blog Mobbs. Also, can you whatsapp me. I've forgotten your number.

I love your spreadsheet above. Most of mine is probably red.

Will do now!! And nice!! Will definitely follow!!! More uni students ftw!!

Haha, well, that one isn't what I actually did today! Tomorrow it'll probably look nothing like that to be honest! Here's the link if you wanted to look at it closer or anything...!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

jessyjellytot14

Hey,

I'm applying to study at UEA this year, would you be able to tell me what the university environment/atmosphere is like? I haven't had the chance to go to an open day but the course I'm applying for (cognitive psychology) looks really interesting!!
Good luck btw!

Thanks :smile:

Reply 12

Tanqueray91

Original post by jessyjellytot14

Heya! Awesome! :smile:

It's a really great atmosphere I find - especially during first year when living on campus, whenever you go to lectures, on are going out in the evening, there're always people around, and it feels as though you should be there! Especially when the sun comes out, in the Summer, there are loads of people around the lake and everyone's having fun, despite exams... If you can get past the slightly **** looking buildings, and you like the look of the course, then it's definitely worth really considering it - if you get an offer, would you be able to come to an applicant day?? They're really really useful, so if you can, then definitely do it!

Good luck :smile:

Reply 13

jessyjellytot14

Original post by mobbsy91

Heya! Awesome! :smile:

Ah thank you! Yes, the buildings look quite strange haha but I won't let it put me off :tongue:

And I'll definitely come to an applicant day if I receive an offer!

Reply 14

Tanqueray91

Original post by jessyjellytot14

Ah thank you! Yes, the buildings look quite strange haha but I won't let it put me off :tongue:

And I'll definitely come to an applicant day if I receive an offer!

Haha yeh, awesome :yy:

Reply 15

Tanqueray91

Another Week Gone By...

I feel like the time is going by really really really quickly, which kinda sucks... I got a mark back, which I'm really pleased with - 94% in a summative hand in for Applied Economics, but it's only worth 10% of the module, so not massive... Apart from that, not much new has happened over the last few days, except for just ticking along with work I guess... Seminar work done, and also applied for some internships for the summer, which hopefully will be successful, but who knows really...

On the accountability thing, here's the spreadsheet which I got by the end of Thursday - I really do feel as though it helped motivate me to do more work, but it was a bit clunky - not a problem though, as I've managed to get a copy of Tyme 2 for macOS and iOS and am going to be trying it out once I've got it all sorted out this afternoon... I feel like it's going to be much better, as I'll just be able to effectively start and stop a timer for different things, will be much quicker, and more accurate... I'll probably give my first impressions during this week sometime!

And of course, my timetable with the changes... I feel as though I got more done than I thought I would, but not as much as I should have, given I've got course tests coming up in a few weeks...

Reply 16

Tanqueray91

No posts... :/

No! I have not disappeared off the face of the earth!! I'm still here, just had lots going on this week, and been busy with other things this weekend, so I decided to just wait until today to post an update...!

As you'll see from my calendar, I think I've done a reasonable amount of work - I'm really going to be trying to gear up this week as I've got a course test a week Monday for Financial Accounting, and then for micro and macro the week after!! So far, my work for Financial Accounting is going quite well I think... I'll also include pics for the notes I've done of those! In terms of Applied Eco coursework - my final summative hand in for that this Friday!! - I can't wait to be done with it :rofl:

Also, this Thursday... drum roll... I'm down in London for an interview for internship - hopefully that'll go well, because it's exactly what I want to do when I graduate and so I think I'd find it amazing!

Otherwise, for the rest of the coming week, as I said, it's going to be working on revision - the way I'm doing this at this stage is consolidating each lecture into individual set of notes. After that, I find going back over all the seminar/workshop work really helpful, especially since the format for tests is usually fairly similar. Then for definitions, I find that doing exercises in the chapters of the text books really useful, as I find that it helps explain things really well!

I hope everyone has a really great week - I may post on Wednesday evening with an update, perhaps Thursday, so until then... have a great week!

Reply 17

Tanqueray91

End of semester!!!

It's the end of the semester :woo:

- well, was on Friday!! I haven't posted much recently because I've been really busy with work and stuff, but I had 3 course tests over the last two weeks - one I think I did really well, one meh, and one not so well haha! But I'm just so glad they're over!!! Next semester I've got 3 bits of coursework for Economics, Management Accounting, and Applied Eco, so that should be all fun...

Over the holidays my plan is to not actually do that much work, but get things organised - make sure my notes are all filed correctly both offline and online, and then I also want to find an online revision tool to make my own online flashcards and possibly even one with an app to use on my phone... if anyone has any ideas about this, then let me know, it would be cool!

I'm also going to be picking up coding again I think... I've really got an on/off relationship with it haha, but hopefully I'll get into it enough that I keep going with it properly!

Reply 18

Tanqueray91

I didn't really post over the Christmas holidays :/

Ahh well... I didn't do that much in the end :woo:

Did organise my notes though after the chaos that ensued with them when revising at the end of last semester...

Good news though, got a few results back (still awaiting one!), and also have a fairly empty week this week as the first week back...

Results:
Applied Economics 2nd hand in: 94% (worth 10%)
Microeconomics exam: 91% (worth 15%)
Financial accounting exam: 100% (worth 20%)

Overall, a very pleasing set of results!!