the OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO thread

[nkwu]

In the spirit of therest of the threads I thought I'd start one

I'm taking SE, staying in a V1 Single Room, 1A

what about eveyrone else.

[divx]

I'm assuming you are in 1st year, pretty sure v1 is for 1st year only. Anyway, have fun partying, either you want it or not.

I be going to 2B EE, heard 2B is the killer.

[nkwu]

^my friend is worried about 2B too. and yes, I am a First Year

[divx]

^my friend is worried about 2B too. and yes, I am a First Year

Everyone is worried about 2B due to the massive lab work, 1 per week just for one of the courses, I'm guessing the I will see more of last term's repeat, free overnight sleeping at the labs for all. Party at the labs!!! NOT, haven't tried myself but I'd image it's not that comfy sleeping in the lab.

[nkwu]

^....christ.

[Raptor7]

I've heard the basement of RCH is a sweet spot for overnight stays. There's couches, and no windows. You may not see it as a class though, i think it was us mechs and civils down there back in first year.

V1 is more of a jail like environment :p Communal i suppose, but MKV/REV is a little less prison like.

[mingming]

Just finished my last final in 4A Elec today.

Actually, 2B was my best term. The labs are not that bad. Our class was most scared going in because of ECE241 with Barby. It ended up not being all that bad.

The 231 labs are a joke, Paul Hayes is the easiest TA out there.

261, you'll have Bumbali, those labs are easy too.

241 now that Cuberto is taking care of most of the labs, should be easy too since he's a pretty nice guy and really helpful. You can email him Sunday night and he'll give you the answers.

In fact, 3A was my worst term, due to lack of labs. Good thing about labs is that they're easy marks, less pressure for finals.

I recommend you look for "legacy" copies of labs, they hardly change them from last year's.

Wait til you get to 4A with design project, this was a BUSY term. But I survived, now off to 4B!!!

[TechRock]

partying at waterloo...plz you must be jk

[mingming]

partying at waterloo...plz you must be jk

I party plenty in Waterloo. There's not a week I dont go out at least once.

[Raptor7]

Textbooks comment

I like probably many 1st year newbs, went out and bought every textbook for every course I had. Mistake. I hardly opened half of them.

Many profs assign problem sets, which may or may not be from the text book, but may also have the questions there for you on the PDF scanned right out of the book.

If you're someone who needs to read the text all the time to learn, go right ahead, for me, paying attention and good notes is enough, and borrowing from a classmate the oddtime. For someone who is good at just taking good notes and doing assignments, wait and see how your prof does things. Remember the book store is open all year.

For those of you in Mech, i can attest to the following:
1st year
Chemistry [1A] - since you only have 1 in 1A ever, if you can get by without the textbook, go for it.
ME100 [1A]- i shouldnt have bought those little crappy ethics book things, the course notes were what you use all the time (then anyway)
Physics [1A/B]- you end up using it twice, and i found it to be a really good book (the red one with the cool hologram thinger on it)
MSCI [1B] - course notes were it, the text book was useless for me
Algebra [1A] - stupid textbook again, did assignments instead
Calculus [1A/B] - good text book, but my prof gave other assignments, so had i not had it i prolly wouldnt have, but you use it more than once.
Materials [1B] - decent text, you'll probably need it for labs, but you might be able to work without it/borrow a friends, course notes were good
Gene121 [1B] - i knew C going into it, but it makes a good resource if you dont, and if you do i might add. tough call. personal pref.
Electrical [1B] -crappy textbook, labs, assignments, course notes, were good enough

Additional - buy Schaums for calculus! They'll recommend it, and get the right one, you'll use it every term!

2nd Year
MODS [2A/B]- fantastic textbook (the green Hibbler one), buy it, you'll use it more than one term as well
Calculus [2A/B] - assignments made it obsolete
Electrical [2A] - crappy textbook, labs, assignments, course notes, were good enough
Stats [2A] - course notes were all there was i think?
Thermodynamics [2B] - gooood text book, i scrounged up the 4th edition, theyre on the 5th. thermo is tough, it was very helpful to me. also you'll need the properties book for the exams.
Materials [2A]- same text, 50/50 for needing it. course notes for the win again
Logic [2B]- course notes for the win - no text?
Dynamics [2B]- fantastic again, (Hibbler red book), it was greatly needed to make sense of what the prof was saying.


Hopefully, my memory serves me on what classes were in what term there.

Basically, you can save lots of $$ if you check out your course first. Depends on the profs style, as many hand out assignments with the questions scanned from the text, or new ones completely. So its personal preference. And besides, the store is open year round, so if youre finding youre really needing it, go buy it. That way you wont be in line for long either.

Any odd time you do need a textbook, for whatever reason, you can ask to borrow, as its usually during a lab and youre in a group anyway. Just wait and see, theres no real harm.

Also, i've had profs on the first day announce that he thinks the recommended textbook for the class sucks and he wont be using it, so another reason to hold the cash.

Just to note, if you don't know - "course notes" are in fact notes, put together by the prof to suppliment the course, and since there his/hers, theyre usually exactly whats being covered. Some are indepth to the point that the in class overheads/slides are the course notes exactly, or some are just the same things said a little different with different examples. Often, theyre a super cheap textbook, since the prof might not like any of the text books out there.

[TurboRegal]

Going into nanotechnology 1a, yay!
Staying with my mennonite homies at the CGUC!

[Raptor7]

heh, nanotech, you're tuition must be nice, i thought i had it bad in mech.

[xaueious]

As for mechanical 2nd year (I am in 1B), how do you rate the difficulty of the courses.

Is 2nd year a lot tougher than first year? I bearly survived first year...

[divx]

As for mechanical 2nd year (I am in 1B), how do you rate the difficulty of the courses.

Is 2nd year a lot tougher than first year? I bearly survived first year...

just the first term pain in the @$$, after that, it's straight sailing.

[jljdaigl]

I am going into CompEng 2B and everyone says that this is the term to watch out for but as previously said although labs may be challenging they are generaly easy marks and I prefer that then to put all the weight on the final.

Anyone that has done 2B compeng got any pointers for me???

As for partying in waterloo I dont know what you are talking about, my housemates and I threw 3 parties ourselves last term, we go out at least once a week (given its not midterms or finals) and have fun all the time!!

All you gotta do is put yourself out there, and remember to balance your workload with relaxation/fun time.