Imperial Internet Speed

tuppatopbrer

Enjoy your summer. You have less than a month until you have more worries than the infrastructure of ICs internet connection. Honestly, get drunk.

Sound advice.

Reply 23

thebman919

OP

thats some mighty fine advice rite there. Is everything really gonna be as insanely hard as people make it out to be? is studying 4 hours a day the only way to pass or something?

Reply 24

Ha! Ok look, you'll need to work, but you won't have to sell your soul to Imperial :p:

They say you should work an hour on your own for every contact hour - in physics we have about 17-20 contact hours a week so that adds up to a 40 hour week. Now, I'd imagine that very few in the first year actually put that much time in - I didn't, I got a 2.1 in first year exams, and I'm not really that bright. The best advice I can give is that you make the most of the time you spend working: don't listen to music at the same time, don't have msn on, don't have have TSR open etc, just get it done with, and you'll find you have ample free time to have fun.

Reply 25

thebman919

OP

thanks for the information ashy :smile:

Im thinking i should take imperial's advice and revise a the a level maths a bit since they said theyre gonna give us a maths test on the 3rd day of term or something like that :/ I suppose ill get round to it eventually... :smile:

Reply 26

I honestly wouldn't bother spending any time looking over stuff you've previously studied. Once you get to IC you will be eased in to it gently and considering you are enrolling here I would expect that you will be able to pick up at your previous level fairly quickly.

I'm sure you all have much better things to be doing than hiding your face away in a book for 5 hours. Enjoy the rest of your summer getting drunk and getting some, and worry about everything else once you arrive.

Reply 27

mkgm1

Andy Pipkin

Why dont you just buy your own broadband network card from Vodafone? That way you dont have to use the uni's network, and therefore you cannot be detected if you want to d/l music...or other stuff.

I just went onto the Vodafone website. If you're talking about the 3g USB Modem, then that's 49 quid just for the modem, and then 25 quid a month (excl VAT) for 3 GB. A total waste of money.

Reply 28

s.e.r.e.n.e

12

//Mike

I honestly wouldn't bother spending any time looking over stuff you've previously studied. Once you get to IC you will be eased in to it gently and considering you are enrolling here I would expect that you will be able to pick up at your previous level fairly quickly.

I won't call it exactly gentle --- for my dept (maths dept) we are going to have a test in the first week. Our personal tutor will then go thru our performance with us the next day, and give us a scolding along the way if we perform poorly. :frown:

Reply 29

fais

15

Spencer.Smith

I won't call it exactly gentle --- for my dept (maths dept) we are going to have a test in the first week. Our personal tutor will then go thru our performance with us the next day, and give us a scolding along the way if we perform poorly. :frown:

The test is to gauge the ability of your group; it doesn't count for anything.

And would you rather your tutor ignored/didn't care about you and your progress?

Reply 30

DanielJ

Spencer.Smith

I won't call it exactly gentle --- for my dept (maths dept) we are going to have a test in the first week. Our personal tutor will then go thru our performance with us the next day, and give us a scolding along the way if we perform poorly. :frown:

In my department (Elec Eng) they use the maths test in the first week to determine whether you need extra maths tutoring. If you need the tutoring, you'll be glad to have it - it's one on one time with someone who can help you with your maths :smile:

.

Reply 31

Spiker

Yep, that's how the Diagnostic works in Maths as well. It's there to help you, not to be a hurdle.

Reply 32

DanielJ

hitman012

Which ports are blocked? I might need to VNC back home now and again, so I'll have to change the forwarding if necessary.

VNC shouldn't be blocked if it's outgoing. If it's incoming (ie you want to VNC into your hall computer), you may have to connect to the college VPN. (Handy if you want to go home for the weekend, but leave your computer in halls.)

Reply 33

Quite. These diagnostic tests (I had them in both Mechanics and Maths early in the term studying Aero) basically serve as a benchmark by which the general ability of the group is measured. This then allows the department to timetable extra tuition for those who may not be at the required level.

Reply 34

In Physics we had a general maths test in the second week: those who failed (got less than 70%) had to go to extra maths lectures and retake the test later. It doesn't count towards your marks but let's them (and you) know who might need a little extra maths help.

Reply 35

Well, I'll give you a sample question from our maths test for those who are doubting the level:

11 is a prime number. True or false?

Reply 36

//Mike

Well, I'll give you a sample question from our maths test for those who are doubting the level:

11 is a prime number. True or false?

Reply 37

Admittedly it did get slightly more involved, such as questions regarding the roots of equations etc, distances between points on a cartesian grid, some algebraic simplification etc.

Nevertheless, people did fail...

Reply 38