THE ROUGH GUIDE to NATURAL SCIENCES Welcome to Nottingham
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THE ROUGH GUIDE TO NATURAL SCIENCES Welcome to Nottingham Hello! First of all we want to welcome you to the University of Nottingham where many amazing opportunities await you both inside and outside of your studies. The Peer Mentors are here to help welcome you to Natural Sciences and provide you with advice and support while you adjust to university life. There is an opportunity to ask them questions online now via padlet. You can find out more about them on page 14. One of the best ways to settle in and meet likeminded people is to join the course Natural Sciences Peer Mentors society. NatSci Soc is now in its 11th year of running and has grown into an active society with lots of opportunities to get involved. They organises great socials and nights out where you can meet up with people from all years of the course. Contents Find out more about what the society can offer you on page 26. Making the Move……………………………………………………..3-4 This guidebook has been put together by the peer mentors and society to provide you with an insight into what it is like to be a Natural Sciences student and give Finding your way around………………………………………….. 5-6 you some top tips about how to make the most of your time at Nottingham! Finding different rooms…………………………………………..…7-8 Adjusting to University…………………………………………….9-10 What happens if?...........................................................11-12 Peer Mentors……………………………………………………….13-16 Advice for first-year students…………………………………..17-18 Academic and Transferable Skills………………………………19-20 Exam Survival Guide………………………………………………21-22 Life hacks for University Accommodation ………………..…23-24 Meet the Society……………………………………………..……25-26 Calendar of NatSci Events.……………………………………..27-28 To join or not to join—Choosing societies………………......29-30 Money Saving Expert……………………………………………..31-32 Fun things on a shoestring………………………………………33-34 Natural Sciences Society (NatSci Soc) Making the Move So you have got the grades and you are in the last few weeks at home before moving to university. This can be daunting time as you are not sure what to expect and you don’t want to forget anything important. The university has information online for new starters to take you through what you need to do before you arrive use the QR code or visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/newstarters/undergraduate Key things: Complete your online registration (from early September) Activate your University username and email account. Start your University Card application online. Student tips on what to do and pack for university: Open a student bank account (Santander offer a 4-year railcard with theirs). Make sure you have enough money to get you through the first few weeks until your loan is paid in. It is worthwhile getting a laptop if you don’t have one, for convenience. Download the MyNottingham App (remember to switch to your student profile once you have registered online to get full use of the app). Get the Men ACWY vaccine before you come to university, it saves you having to have it during your first couple of weeks which is no fun. Make sure you bring key documentation, id, passport, drivers licence you never know when you need them and it saves a trip home to get them. There is an IKEA and Dunelm nearby so it is easy enough to get kitchen stuff, towels and bedding when you first arrive if you need them. Start the ‘Your University Journey’ NOOC before you arrive (you need to have set up your username and email account to gain access). Bring along things which remind you of home, it helps if you feel homesick; Make sure to bring a door stop or get one once you get here, propping your door open makes it much easier to make friends in halls. Games can be a great way to get to know your new neighbours. Bring along any fancy dress stuff you already have, there are often themed parties particularly at the start of term. Don’t buy textbooks before you arrive it is a waste of money. 1 Finding your way around 1. Medical School (off image) 2 2. Coates Road Auditorium 3. Chemistry 4. Engineering & Science Learning Centre (ESLC) 4 5. Physics 3 8 6. Pope Building 7. George Green Library 6 8. Coates Building 9 9. Psychology 10. Life Sciences 5 7 11. Mathematical Sciences 10 12. Keaton Auditorium 13. Sir Clive Granger 11 Estimated Walking Times (mins) Chemistry to Coates Road: 2-3 Medical School to ESLC: 5-10 Coates Road to Life Sciences: 3-4 12 Pope to Keighton Auditorium: 4-5 Life Sciences to Chemistry: 5 Clive Granger to Life Sciences: 6-7 Chemistry to Humanities: 15-20 Clive Granger to Chemistry: 8-10 Physic to Maths: 3 13 Maths to Coates Road: 5-10 Humanities to Life Sciences 15-20 to Humanities To Halls Medical School to Maths 10 (15 minute walk) To get to some teaching rooms you have to enter a building through a specific entrance. Where is C1052? The most likely building you will encounter this in is the Coates Building but it is also the case in the Law and Social Sciences building. Naming Conventions It is also worth knowing that both Coates Road Auditorium and Keighton Auditorium Most University Buildings follow a pattern for naming rooms where the floors are have their own entrances which are separate to the main building entrance and you can’t allocated a letter so A is ground floor, B is the first floor, C is the second floor and so on. get to either room from the main building. Once you know which floor the room is on in most cases it is a matter of following hallway Teaching Labs around until you find the room as rooms usually run in numerical order in one direction or Teaching labs sometimes have a proper name instead of a number (e.g. STEM Lab) which the other. can make them harder to find so here is a brief explanation of where teaching labs are for If you are worried about finding rooms you can get access plans online each subject: for each building to work out where rooms are. Use the QR code or visit: Archaeology—Materials and Bioarchaeology labs on the ground floor of the Humanities www.nottingham.ac.uk/estates/spacemanagement/accessplans Building at the far end of the foyer from the main entrance. Hard to find rooms Biological Sciences—Labs on C and D floor in the Medical School and a handful of ground Some rooms in the Medical School can be difficult to find as the building is linked to the floor teaching lab in the Life Sciences building, all labs are numbered. hospital and has vast distances of corridor. The main rooms you will need to get to are off Chemistry—Labs are named by branch of chemistry and located on different floors; of the ground floor foyer but there are also teaching labs and rooms on C and D floor. physical on A floor, inorganic on B floor and organic on C floor (also called STEM lab). Environmental Science—Use the ground floor numbered labs in the Life Sciences Building or discipline specific labs at Sutton Bonington (eg Plant Sciences). Geography—On the ground floor, the Swinnerton Lab is to the right of the staircase for the Edwards Resource Centre. Physics—Labs are named by year and can all be found on the lower ground floor Working with lecture notes helps you remember material and draws your Adjusting to University attention to things you didn’t understand so you can look them up. Use highlighters after the lecture to reinforce important points in notes. Studying at university is different to school and it can be hard at first to get used Create straightforward and neat notes of each of the topics covered as you to the different style of teaching and learning. Some material will be familiar to go along; it will save you a lot of time when it comes to revising. you while other material will be new; this is because the first year is used to Don’t worry if you are ill and miss a lecture, lecturers put their notes up on ƉƌŽǀ ŝĚĞĂŐŽŽĚĨŽƵŶĚĂƟŽŶĨŽƌƚŚĞƌĞŵĂŝŶŝŶŐLJĞĂƌƐĂŶĚƉĂƌƚŽĨƚŚĂƚŝŶĐůƵĚĞƐ moodle and many record lectures so you can watch them back later! ensuring students are at the same level. One of the big differences at University is that you are expected to take responsibility for your own learning. Each week Top tips for Workshops/Problem Classes/Seminars there will be classes for the different modules you are studying but it is up to you how much you get out of them or even if you go at all! If you find the problem sheets for classes difficult then set up a study group and work together, many heads are often better than one. These classes give you the opportunity to work through questions which are Top tips for lectures similar to those in the exam and get feedback about what staff are looking Get in the habit of making good lecture notes early. for so they help to prepare you for the exams. Lecturers say lots of important stuff but it is not necessarily written down Make sure that you do any assigned work in advance (and submit it for anywhere so make sure you pay attention and learn the cues they use. marking if available) that way you know what you are struggling with and can ask the questions you need to during the class. Academic content in lectures is often more than at school; don’t worry about taking it all in, get down key points and you can go over it later.