Reflecting on last semester

So much caffeine, so little sleep

Last semester (the first semester of second year) was rough. I would say “challenging”, but this degree is challenging – last semester was a different story altogether. Between an overwhelming courseload and navigating the newly implemented test weeks on one campus while lectures continued on the other (and the logistics of attending class on two campuses), I was surviving on too little sleep, too much caffeine, and whatever vestiges of mental health I had managed to cling on to. That being said, the semester had its positive moments. I was on the executive committee for House Dietetics (the student leadership structure for my degree) and that meant I had to help with orientation for incoming health science students before the semester started. I got to meet the first years, take them on a tour of Prinshof campus, and facilitate activities I had participated in myself a year earlier. Once the semester got underway, I learned new cooking skills in a module called Basic Food Preparation (the name is self‑explanatory – my class learned basic food preparation to build a foundation for when we go into food service). The practicals were long, starting at 13:30 and sometimes running until 18:00, but it was a welcome change of pace from sitting in libraries and lecture halls. I learned how to make royal icing and use it to decorate cookies; how to apply knife skills to achieve different cuts of vegetables, from brunoise to oblique; and how to temper custard to produce smooth ice cream instead of sweet scrambled eggs. Outside of the kitchen, I learned how to drive a mini bus! The second‑year health science students had community visits as part of one of our modules and the university unexpectedly assigned Toyota Quantums to us so we could drive to our destinations. Transporting nine other students in an uncomfortably large vehicle was not on my 2025 bingo card, but I was registered as my group’s driver and I had to adapt.

On a more personal level, I learned to lower my expectations. I realised last year that I was capable of getting distinctions in this degree, and that became my benchmark. Despite the time it took to commute between my home and the two campuses, as well as the fact that there was so much work to do at any given time that I didn’t know what to keep hold of and what to let go, I still put pressure on myself to live up to that. My anxiety crescendoed, exhaustion set in, and I had to re-evaluate my priorities. I decided that I just needed to get through the semester – as long as I passed, it would be enough. The relief was instant. I focused on the most highly weighted work and allowed myself to stop at “good enough” for the rest. And guess what? Despite my fears of failure and concerns around lowering my standards, I maintained my distinction average. A final positive about last semester is that, because everyone in our class was overwhelmed and struggling, we helped each other. If someone didn’t understand how a biochemistry practical worked, there would be a classmate to explain it to them. If someone kept getting a question wrong in a continuous assessment, another student would have found it easy and would be willing to help. If there were 30 minutes left before a test and someone still couldn’t wrap their head around a specific concept, there would be a classmate giving them an abridged run‑down of the work. Even though our marks were our own, there was a notable increase in collaboration. It is perhaps necessary to clarify that I am not talking about ‘collaboration’ in the form of plagiarism and cheating. Yes, some people were relying more on ChatGPT than their own knowledge, and screenshots of answers were a common sight in WhatsApp groups, but there was also an increase in honest, academically sound assistance between students.

 

This semester promises to be a lot kinder. I have just over half the number of modules I had last semester, only one class starts at 07:30, and none of them end later than 15:30. As an added bonus, all the lectures are on one campus. My term in House Dietetics has also come to an end, so I have fewer leadership commitments. As reassuring as this is, I don’t want to be too laid back and let my work ethic slip. So, how can I apply what I learned last semester to ensure I get the most out of this one? My grade seven English teacher engrained the KISS acronym into my head – Keep It Simple, Stupid (I would like to point out that she softened the word “stupid”; I just can’t remember how). This memory resurfaced a couple of weeks ago when I told my mom that the downside to being a study skills nerd is that you miss the forest for the trees. You get so excited about all the study techniques and time management approaches at your disposal that you forget that the point of a study system is efficiency, not complexity. Because of this, I’m greatly simplifying my approach. My new system is three-fold: The day before, I want to print out and read through the slides of my upcoming lectures. I’ll note which slides pertain to specific learning outcomes, what concepts I don’t understand, and what questions I need to ask. During class, I’ll add to the notes I already made on the slides and ask any questions I noted down (as well as any that arise during the lecture). After class, I want to make revision notes as soon as possible so that I can start getting the information into my head. Revision is my focus this semester, but it seems to be what I’m struggling with the most. I intended to make notes after each lecture, but I soon realised that the lectures build on each other and I should rather make notes at the end of the week. I’m still figuring out how to do that without giving myself a stack of information to encode, but I feel good about the next few months.

 

Even though I had a rocky start to the academic year, I never stopped feeling grateful. My modules may not be the easiest, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is where I am meant to be. I’m excited to continue down this path and see what else a BDietetics degree has in store for me.