sirius business

andrea / 20 / mnl, ph / infj / vet student

[quotemadness]

“In the end, we’ll all become stories.”

— Margaret Atwood

[iknowthis]

05.06.2018 I need to catch up on nearly all biochem lectures since the beginning of the semester which kind of stresses me out. But my mood is still excellent because the Medimeisterschaften are coming up this weekend! It’s a festival where med students from all over Germany come together to celebrate and it’s my first time! I’m so excited!!💃

[shityouhearatvetschool]

“If you see something crawling and it gives you the heebie jeebies, it’s probably lice.”

[beetlegarden]

we are not born to die!! what are you talking about!! do you think a book begins just to finish? do you think a song opens with a beautiful chord just for it to end? you don’t read the book to finish it, you read the book to eat up the excitement and the emotions it evokes!! to learn and to digest and to fall in love and be heartbroken!! you listen to the song to dance and dance and sing your throat raw!!! to cry and smile and swell with the harmonies!! yes, we are born with the inevitable fate of death, we are mortal after all, but that is merely the finale of the play!! the final act, the closing of the curtains - we are not born to take a bow and exit stage left!! we are born to love and be joyous and yell and move and learn and cry and feelfeelfeel!!!  we are not born to die, silly, we’re born to live!!!

[drferox]

Given the high probability for things in Jurassic Park to go 100% haywire, would you still take a job there in order to treat a stegosaurus?

I would most definitely take a job at Jurassic Park, IF I got to make recommendations that would be actually listened to and wouldn’t be fired for swearing. The job of a veterinarian should not be to do what you are told by your employer, it should be to solve problems and advocate for the welfare of the animals in your care.

The Tyranosaus get’s enrichment, the sauropods get enrichment, the stegosaurs get enrichment, everybody gets enrichment.

Misuse of the clicker in clicker training will result in the device being inserted somewhere uncomfortable.

We are not feeding Jurassic carnivores meat from mammals which they are likely ill-suited to digest and metabolize. We know aquarium fish, which are not adapted to eating mammals, develop cardiac and fat distribution problems if their protein is supplemented with beef so let’s aim for a slightly more ‘natural’ diet of bird and reptile proteins (crocodile, anyone?)

Like, seriously, let’s not train a prehistoric reptile, brought back to the modern world with no parents to teach it about food, to see mammals as a source of food. It shouldn’t have any innate instincts to do so, so lets leave well enough alone.

In fact, let’s not give them live prey at all. I think not training the dinosaurs to hunt is probably a good idea.

Lets get somebody who knows what they’re doing to design enclosures so we can see the animals, and give them enough space to not go stir crazy.

While we’re at it, the enclosures for larger animals can have more safety features - bolt holes for humans that the biggest critters can’t fit through,  honestly we even have these in livestock handling facilities, it’s not that hard!

We are not going to introduce DNA from modern species which are potentially parthenogenic

So, so much quarantine.

Some modern reptiles would need to be kept in order to seed the local environment with suitable microflora and microfauna for the dinosaurs to pick up. You might have cloned a dinosaur, but I’d bet dollars for donuts you didn’t clone it’s intestinal flora!

Quarantine again. Nothing is getting off the island, and ideally nothing from visitors is contacting anything in the exhibit.

Ian Malcom has to walk around being opinionated about everything, and suitably paranoid.

The roof of every building gets an evacuation point for a helicopter.

The stegosaurs get extra treats.

[owlmylove]

the hottest study tip i will ever give: keep a tiny stapler on you. i bought a “craft stapler” for $4.99 at a marshalls my freshman year and perpetually kept it in my bag. the # of times i’ve been hailed as a goddess when fellow students are turning in mandatorily-stapled-papers would be payment enough, were it not for the # of times in college i’ve put 2 plastic plates of free luncheon food together & stapled the edges for a free tubberware. pls buy a tiny stapler

[owlmylove]

i’ve stolen at LEAST 35 chocolate chip cookies and 11 cheesecake brownies via this method

[alxis-anew-deactivated20201028]

Tips for UPLB Freshies.. Ayee! :D

Dapat ay meron kang envelope (kung gusto mong maging organized) during start ng klase kasi kadalasan puro course outline at mga classroom policies ang ibibigay sa inyo ng teachers. Mas okay na nakasinop ito para maupdate mo ang sarili mo sa mga upcoming exams, kung anong topic na kayo, at para malaman mo kung ano ang mga sinasabi ng teachers na ayaw nila at gusto.

Mag-notebook! Ayy, promise! Hindi ka mabubuhay sa loose sheets at mga paphotocopy ng notes sa katabi. Mas mabuti pa din na meron kang notes. :D Pero minsan kasi may mga handouts naman, pero hindi din gaano kahelpful iyon. Pag may handouts, kunin na in advance para makapag-annotate ka ng notes sa particular na handout! :D

Kapag sinabing may reading na ganito, at ganyan, kunin na agad at basahin! :D Mabuti nang hindi ka masurprise a meeting before na ang readings niyo pala ay half-inch thick! :D

Kapag sinabing basahin ang reading assignments, basahin! Huwag hayaang magstack-up ito kasi hindi mo iyan macacram pag malapit na ang exam! Ay nako, based na ito sa experience ko! HAHAHA. :))

Usisahin ang consultation hours ng teacher kung hindi nito sinabi. Kapag sinabi naman niya, itakedown note mo na sa harap ng notebook mo nung subject na iyon. Importante iyan! Kung tingin mo ang tali-talino mo na at hindi mo na kailangang magconsult, IMPORTANTE PA DIN ‘YUN! Naku, iba lang kasi na alam mo ang CH ng teachers mo kasi minsan hindi lahat ng bagay ay naaalala mo! At kung may gusto kang iclarify, magagawa mo!

Gain friends from other sections of the same subject. Ikaw na bahalang magdiscover kung para saan 'yan! HAHAHA. :)) Pero personally, helpful sa akin ang may friends from different sections na iba ang teacher, pero pareho ang subject matter. :D Ibang tulong talaga 'yun. PROMISE

GAIN FRIENDS! :D Ayown! Iba pa din ang may kasama ka! :D Hehehe. Pero choose your friends as well. Never let your priorities be compromised with the people you choose to be your friends. :D In the end, hindi sa kanila ang repercussions ng mga bagay bagay kung hindi mo nameet ang priorities mo. :D 

Maging active sa class at laging pumasok! Hindi mo lang alam kung ano minsan ang mga nakukuha ng complete ang attendance. I mean, hindi lang 'yung lessons, at quizzes pero may mga bonus din kasi minsan. :D

Huwag mahiyang magtanong! C'mon! Mas okay nang iaccept mo na hindi mo naintindihan kaysa magyabang ka tapos wala ka naman palang maisasagot sa exam.

Always read beyond what was discussed. Para sa akin, helpful 'to. Kahit na mediyo maeffort, nakakatulong ito para mas maintindihan mo pa 'yung lesson, at mas maenhance mo pa 'yung grasp mo sa concepts. Puwedeng internet, or yung reference books na sinabi dun sa Course Outline na ibibigay.

For lab classes, never attend your lab class without reading first the prelab discussion on your manual. Aside from the fact na may quiz, mas organized na ang thoughts mo about the methodology nung exercise kaya hindi ka na malolost.

Always PRAY and continue FIGHTING FOR YOUR RELATIONSHIP with GOD.I say that this is an advice that is very personal and dictates a specific line of thinking. This is the biggest thing that had helped me through college. Knowing that God will give me wisdom if I asked Him and I can do all things through Him. ;D

You may disagree with the things I said but I believe that everything posted here will help you on your college life. :D To the freshies, enjoy life in UPLB! :D Do not think about the negative things, always tell yourself that you can do it! :D Our thinking affects our behavior! Do not be the limit of what you can do in the university! Aim for that goal and achieve it! :D

Welcome mga isko at iska! :))  

[scienceprofessorquotes]

“Inanimate objects aren’t stupid; people are stupid.”

— Organic chemistry professor after I told him I couldn’t find a “stupid 19/22 glass stopper”

[cyclicstudies]

How to Study for Organic Chemistry 

I walked into this class my second semester of freshmen year thinking I was gonna fail bc everyone talked about orgo being so hard! But then I met a whole bunch of amazing peer tutors, who offered the BEST tips. By following these steps, I was able to score an A- on my first test. Admittedly, though, it’s harder to do well on later exams as reactions start piling up. But if you start the process in advance, then you’ll be able to retain info easily! 

[lizziedoesvetpath]

So... what’s vet school like???

I get this question so often from people looking to apply to vet school, that I thought it would be a good topic as a second writing piece for the break!

Disclaimer: I can only speak about one vet school, in one country. I don’t know what every vet school is like, so I can’t help with specifics. From talking to other people I know of some generalities between vet schools which I can mention here, and I’m sure that my lovely followers will pitch in if they find something is different where they are.

First off, don’t be scared. Vet school is fun, and it is fascinating! Like any other degree/career path, there are always going to be bits you like and bits you don’t. The other thing to keep in mind is one of my favourite mantras: “nothing worth doing is easy.” If it was easy, everyone would do it, and I would argue that if you don’t love it enough to look past the struggles, you won’t last long in the profession.

Most vet schools have small-ish, tight knit classes. My class is 90 people, and we’re in our 4th year of working together, so (sorry for the cheese) we are like a family. Even the people I’m not particularly fond of I would defend if it came down to it, and I’ve made some friendships that I already know will last for a lifetime. Vet school will introduce you to a great group of people who you have one key thing in common with, but are from a range of backgrounds. You make a lot of friends and get to hear a lot of different viewpoints, so it’s really interesting in that respect!

The other big positive is that veterinary science is a fascinating subject. It incorporates so many different things that you’ll be learning stuff you never thought you would when you were dreaming of fixing animals. Obviously you learn medicine and surgery, but you also learn pathology and pharmacology, you learn about how farming systems work and how grass grows and why soil is so important. Vet school will give you this incredibly broad education that means that you can turn your hand to a million things outside of clinical practice.

You also get a really great mix of theory and practical education. The way my degree runs, I will often spend half the day in a lecture theatre, and then spend the other part of the day performing surgery or wrangling sheep. You get to learn in all sorts of different ways, and there are animals in your classes, which I love. Even in first year, where we obviously couldn’t really be doing procedures, we had animal handling classes on a Friday afternoon, so we’d finish off the week restraining cats and sheep and cows and dogs and alpacas and birds. It’s fun, different, and I love it so much.

BUT: vet school is hard work. You can do it, but you need to know that it’s intensive. I’m usually at uni between 8am and 5pm five days a week, and then I study on weekends too. The price of all the information you get is that it takes time and effort to learn all of that. People at my university liked to say that pre-vet is intensive but then they select you and they want to keep those people so it gets easier. Don’t rely on that. My pre-vet semester was the easiest university semester I’ve done. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard at the time. It was high pressure and I knew it was going to determine how the rest of my life played out. But it was much easier than vet school. I had more time off, less work to do, and way less content to learn. The way I describe vet school to friends is this: every semester I’m in vet school I think “Wow. I didn’t know I could work this hard. This is the hardest I have ever worked.” And then I do another semester, and I think the same thing.

Vet school will also likely suck up your “break time”. There are so many practical and people skills you need to learn on top of the theory that they can’t do it all in the classroom. You will very likely need to be seeing practice/externing/getting work experience with clinics over the uni breaks. I even had to spend time on farms to learn about farming systems. These placements are fun and informative, but they do take up time, so you can’t necessarily rely on getting weeks off like you would in other degrees.

Basically, vet school is great but it’s a lot. Many people don’t understand how I can put in the time and the effort it requires, but it comes down to the fact that I really do love veterinary science and I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s totally worth it fi it’s what you want to do!

[cwote]

If anything, admitting when you don’t fully understand something displays curiosity for learning. So keep asking those questions!

[mugggle-studies-blog]

A Guide to CETs

Hi! So I passed all of the College Entrance Tests (CETs) I took last year - thank God! So, I decided to give back to the studyblr community, especially in the PH, because it honestly helped so much in keeping me motivated. I met a lot of fellow Science high school students here, as well as college students who kindly gave me advice. So here’s my little contribution to the community. 

You can find all of the compiled guides in my personal blog over here. Along with some personal experiences during the tests, and a general list of tips and tricks for test taking (the ones that worked on me, anyway).

I hope this helps you, and I wish you all the best in your journey!! :') 

FEUCET (Far Eastern University College Entrance Test)

USTET (University of Sto. Tomas Entrance Test)

DCAT (DLSU College Admission Test)

ACET (Ateneo College Entrance Test)

UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test)

[mugggle-studies-blog]

FEUCET: A Guide

Subtests: Math, English, Filipino, Science, General Information

Out of all the entrance tests I took, I found the FEUCET/FEUCAT to be the easiest. 

MATH They’re going to provide scratch papers but if you’ve paid attention to your math classes throughout high school, I’m confident you can solve the problems in your head. Most of my batchmates went on and on about how they just doodled on the scratch papers because it was almost unnecessary. It is partly true. I remember one of the questions asking for the square root of x4 . If you can answer that, along with your knowledge of the basic special products of polynomials, you’re good to go.

LANGUAGES (English and Filipino) This CET also has the easiest Language subtest. As long as you know the basic rules in subject verb agreement, as well as when to use your pang-abays rin and din, you won’t fail this subtest. Vocabulary words in the test aren’t that deep, just use context clues (iirc, this isn’t the type of test where they simply give a word, they give sentences that use the word). There’s reading comprehension, but it’s short compared to the other CETs. 

SCIENCE Again, basics. If you paid attention to your high school science classes, this should come easy. Know your biology and earth sciences! The only question I remember from this part of the exam simply asked about what Nephorology deals with. I’ve (weirdly) never heard this term before, but I do know that Nephrons are functional units of our kidneys, so the answer was kidneys. Again, know your basic bio!

TL;DR  The entire test dealt with the basics - especially the math and languages parts. So know your high school Algebra, and your basic grammar rules (in both English and Filipino!). Oh and don’t worry about the time pressure, there’s ample time for you to answer everything carefully (I’m pretty sure you’ll even have time left to go back to your answers to double check when you’re done).

Far Eastern University website: https://www.feu.edu.ph/

[mugggle-studies-blog]

ACET: A Guide

The exam has 2 parts with a break in between. The first part has your usual English subtest and a Math subtest. The second part also includes another Math subtest, Reading Comprehension, Abstract Reasoning, and another English subtest (Vocabulary).

The ACET is a race against time. 

PART 1 English + Essay This subtest combines all the usual English test types; sentence completion, identification of errors, correct word tenses and word usage, etc. So practice answering those. Imo, as long as you’re aware of all the basic rules, especially in subject-verb agreement, you’re good to go. What you want to master is answering in the most efficient way possible. 

This will come in handy because this subtest includes an essay. A lot of my friends panicked because they weren’t aware that the essay had to be written within the time given for the English subtest. So, make sure you manage your time well. Iirc, the ACET Essay will give you one word (mine was Humility, I think) and then the rest is up to you.

Math As someone who hates math, I surprisingly enjoyed ACET’s math subtest. What worked for me was doing lots and lots of practice tests before the actual exam. I also followed common tips in efficiently answering math exams such as looking over the choices first before solving. Sometimes the answer is obvious, even without solving. Another tip is when you’re computing, you don’t always have to complete the solution. Medyo malabo pagka-explain ko, pero hear me out. For example, the complete answer is 1.3746293. That’s pretty long right? So while you’re computing, pause at the first 3 digits (or last 3 digits, depending on what you’re solving for) and review the choices. Kapag nandun na yung sagot, stop solving and move to the next item. Kapag wala dun yung sagot, oh no move to the next item and just go back later if you still have time.

Part 1′s math is pretty easy; high school Alegbra (knowing your Special Products will come in very handy), Geometry (I survived through knowing the common perimeter, area, volume, and surface area formulas as well as the formulas for right triangles), Trigonometry (I cannot stress this enough, SOH-CAH-TOA is your bestfriend!) PART 2 Math Ready for an actual race against time? Part 2′s Math part is full of word problems. I don’t really remember, but according to my batchmate’s tweet (also has some CETs tips, so read that too!) there were 25 items. 25 minutes lang din ibibigay sayo para sagutin. The good thing about this is that word problems are easy if you know how to analyze and solve for what the question is looking for. And there’s always a formula tapos may mga word problem types na similar ang formulas like Mixture problems and Coin problems! 

Abstract Reasoning 25 items for 5 minutes. Race. Against. Time. Do your best to visualize the patterns, find the odd one out of the choices, and choose the next in the sequence in the quickest way possible. Pero syempre dapat tama rin. Answer as efficiently as possible. 

Reading Comprehension Reading the questions before reading passage helped a lot for me. Another tip from personal experience is that skipping questions in Reading Comprehension parts do more damage than good. Skipping a question means you have to go back to the passage as well which isn’t very nice when the clock is ticking. This is just from personal experience though, I still suggest you find what works best for you when it comes to time pressured Reading Comprehension subtests.

English (Vocab) I honestly enjoyed the ACET’s vocabulary test so much! It was fun and chill (kahit na may oras). It wasn’t very difficult and most of the words were ones I encountered whilst reading books. If this isn’t your strong suit, I recommend you brush up on your vocabulary and practice utilizing context clues.

TL;DR Practice! Practice! Practice! This is a race against time so master how to answer as efficiently as you can. Don’t forget about the essay in Part 1′s English test. Study your Algebra esp. Special Products, basic Geom and Trigo. Practice and master answering word problems. Find what works best for you in time pressured Reading Comprehension. Work on expanding your vocabulary if you’re not a big reader. Context clues are your best buddies.

Ateneo de Manila University website: http://ateneo.edu/

[mugggle-studies-blog]

DCAT: A Guide

Subtests: English, Reading Comprehension, Science, Math (with more subtests)

The DCAT was one of the hardest CETs I took, believe it or not. After I walked out of the testing room, I had abandoned all hopes of passing solely because of the math part. 

English The English part was the standard vocabulary, sentence completion/correction kind of subtest. Most of the test was pretty easy, but I remember facing a lot of unfamiliar words in the vocabulary part, so better brush up on that if it isn’t your strongest suit. 

Reading Comprehension I don’t remember a lot from DCAT’s Reading Comp subtest tbh. I didn’t have any problems with the length of the passages and the time given to read them so I guess this part’s pretty easy too. Just apply the usual reading comprehension techniques that work best for you (e.g. reading the questions first before reading, smart scanning instead of reading every word, etc). 

Science The Science subtest, iirc, was also pretty easy. Again, bio concepts, earth science terms, lessons from your high school science classes. 

Math A lot of my friends thought the Math part was easy because they had ample time to answer. Basic high school Algebra, and some Geometry. So why did I find it so hard? The Math subtest had, iirc, more subtests. One of which is a Research and Statistics related one. You would’ve thought that 4 years worth of research papers in high school would’ve given me a good grade but nope. There were questions about sampling, what test statistic to use, interpretation of z-scores, type I and type II errors in statistical hypothesis testing, and all that jazz.

TL;DR All the other subtests are pretty basic as long as you have enough knowledge in the given fields. The Math part isn’t just Algebra. There’s research related questions and some statistics. Oh, and the final part of the exam is survey-type questions that basically tries to evaluate you as a person. Think Which Hogwarts House Do You Belong In? kind of exam. 

De La Salle University website: http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/

[mugggle-studies-blog]

USTET: A Guide

Subtests: Mental Ability, Math, Science, English

The USTET is one of the very first entrance test exams I ever took. It is also, in my opinion, among the easiest. The key to acing it? Mastering your high school classes. 

Or at least, passing all of them and acquiring enough stock knowledge. 

MENTAL ABILITY If I remember correctly, this subtest has 80 items and you have 25 minutes to answer it (don’t hold me on this, I’m not sure, but just know that the time is short and the subtest is long). The questions are easy, but they’re tricky. Make sure you read them correctly! It’s mostly logic questions and some basic math, if you’d call it that. A weird example I remember: “If I have 5 apples and give 2 to my friend, how many does my friend have?” My most important tip for this is to answer as many as you can. They’re going to tell you it’s okay not to finish it, but you should still aim to. Your scores on this subtest will matter.

MATH wELP, as you can probably tell from the results, math isn’t my strongest suit. However, I found the USTET’s math part relatively easy. It would definitely easier for people who are good in it or enjoy it. The most memorable part was the trigonometry questions because I couldn’t remember any of them. So know your trigo ratios! Values of the six trigonometric ratios (sin, cos, tan, cosec, sec and cot) for 0∘, 30∘, 45∘, 60∘ and 90∘ appeared, so make sure you know those. As well as your high school Algebra and basic Geometry, of course.

SCIENCE The USTET’s Science part dealt with basic concepts. Questions focused mostly on recurring high school science concepts like erosion, plate tectonics, basic anatomy, etc. There wasn’t a lot of physics iirc, and those that appeared simply involved Newton’s Laws. Hopefully, you paid attention in your high school classes. 

ENGLISH Scour your pile of notes for those Oral Communication lectures because they’re basically the main content of this subtest. That’s all I have to say for this. 

TL;DR Answer the Mental Ability part quickly and efficiently, master high school Algebra, know your basic concepts in Science, and study your Oral Comm lessons.  Lastly, know the opposite of love. 

University of Santo Tomas website: http://www.ust.edu.ph/

[drferox]

Hi! So I love science and animals and I think I'd really like to be a veterinarian. Trouble is, due to some unpleasant medical experiences, I'm super grossed out by medical stuff. I have a pretty weak stomach. Do you think it's possible to get over this? Or would it get in the way of a vet career too much?

It depends entirely whether you still react that way to medical procedures if you are the one in control of them, or if you’re likely to remain grossed out regardless of whether you’re on the giving or receiving end.

For example there are plenty of vets who don’t like being on the receiving end of needles, but they’re quite content to use them on patients.

Being a veterinarian is still possible if you find yourself grossed out by medical procedures, but since it’s veterinary medicine, why would that be what you want to pursue in the first place if if makes you feel unpleasant all the time?