How to survive

如何逃生

原文

中译

You're a person that enjoys a challenge,aren't you. Know how I can tell? You're going into CST(Computer Systems Technology). Good Luck. You're in for one of the greatest trials you may ever experience in yur life. But don't fret, in the end,just about everyone says it's worth it.

The following tips are a compilation of tips from 10 CST students who are graduating in the Year 2000. 

What kind of students made it through?

We had them all, from 18 olds to over 40 year olds. We had the usual students straight from high school and transferees from university. And we had the unusual students who were new to the country and could hardly speak English. Then we had the special ones who were single mothers and we had new mothers with infants at home. Whatever your situation,if you put in the effort and get a network of support around you, you will make it too.

How much work is a lot of work?

You will have 30 hours of classes。 It is recommended that you put in 2 hours of study time for every hour of classes。 That's 90 hours per week, which is equal to 2.5 full time jobs. And this is why you need thest tips.

Time mangement

I might as well have titled this piece “Manage your time in CST". Here are some key points as given by the contributors:

PRE-READ

Someone once said, you can't learn something unless you know a little bit about it already.

DO ALL YOUR HOMEWORK

No ifs and buts, just do them. Aside from the natural learning you will gain they are also easy marks that add up in the end. You'll be surprised.

GET HELP,FAST

Don't be shy to approach instructors for help. They are very willing to give it. See them in their offices and get one-to-one support. Whatever you do, DON'T get behind on any material.

YOU ARE(or can be)A(darn)GOOD PROGRAMMER

When you start school you will meet a lot of people who will have had more programming experience than you've had with the one Pascal course you've taken. Don't get intimidated. If they tell the instructor "we already know that", you can't bet that there are more of you that don't know it. So speak up, ask questions and be determined to learn. I know from experience that students that have taken Pascal write good,well-structured code.

LEARN TO WORK IN A TEAM

Most of your projects will be done in teams. Do your share,it's your mark too. Plus if you don't participate you'll be tested on the material and you'll fail the exam. This is not a joke. This has happened to many students time and time again.

LASTLY,STAY AWAY FROM THE PUB

You honestly have no time to party.

Oh,yes! READ COLLEEN'S TIPS:

You asked me for hints on surviving CST, and I don't think I told you very much. One of the most important thing is to have a supportive person at home, which you obviously have. As for the rest...All the things I tried to encourage people to do when working on their assignments. Start right away, ask questions if you don't understand something, find other students to discuss it with... When you're in the middle of a programming project and it isn't going well, walk away for a while. Do something else... Go to sleep for a couple of hours...It's amazing how our brains keep working on a problem and often solve it when we stop consciously thinking about it.

You'll be doing a lot of group projects, so I'd recommend that you start right away getting to know your classmates and figuring out who will be good to work with. I've found that groups work best when people have complementory skills. I was involved in a couple of group assignments(with different people)that were disasters because one person insisted on taking on a major portion of the work and then wasn't able to follow through.

You probably will be the oldest student in your set. Don't let it bother you. You have the advantage of a lot more life experience; things that bother your younger classmates won't faze you. You'll find some of your classmates to be less mature, but you're used to dealing with teenagers.(I wasn't!) I've found that for me at least,age is less important than shared goals and interests.

What else... Whatever you like to do for relaxation, keep doing it. For me it's going for walks in the woods. And I remember one instructor talking about the importance of having a long-term goal that you do something towards every day, something that may have nothing to do with getting through CST but that also doesn't take huge chunks of time.  Like learning to juggle,perhaps....

你是个喜欢挑战的人,对吗? 为什么我这样说呢? 因为你马上要参加CST(计算机系统技术专业)的学习了。祝您好运。你将面临你一生中最大的一个挑战。但别犯愁，最终你会象其他人一样说: 这值得。

以下的经验之谈来自10个2000届的 CST毕业生。

什么人能通过CST的学习？

这些人从18岁到40多岁的人都有。他们有正常地从高中来的学生和从大学转来的学生。其中有一些是刚移民来的，几乎连英语也不会说。还有的人是单身母亲，而有的是刚生过孩子。

无论你的情况怎样，只要你努力，能获得周围的人帮助，你也能通过。

需要投入多少时间?

　每星期你有30小时在课堂上。每小时课堂里的课，你应该在课外花2小时来温习。这就是说，每星期要花90个小时，这等于2个半的全日制工作时间。 这就是为什么你需要这些告诫。

时间安排

我也许该说，“安排学习CST的时间”。以下是过来人提供的几点重要提示：

提前阅读

有人曾经说，如果你不先了解一点老师要教的东西，你就很难明白老师讲的是什么。

做好每一个作业

不要找任何借口去推诿, 要尽力去做。做作业能让你学到很多东西，作业的分数将算进你的总分里。那时你会感到惊喜。

迅速取得帮助

别害羞呀，不懂就要去问老师。老师是很愿意帮助你的。到他们的办公室去，当面请教。千万不要拖延时间。

你是一个好编程员

开学后，你会遇到许多已有编程经验的同学，他们的经验远远多于你在预科班学到的Pascal编程知识。不要因此而感到害怕。如果他们对老师说，“这个我们已懂了”，你别以为其他人都懂了。只管大胆地提问好啦。根据我的经验，学过PASCAL的学生能写出相当好的结构性编程语言。

学会团队合作方法

你们的大多数作业项目要靠团队合作完成。按分工去做，获得你的分数。如果你不加入，你要被考核，你可能考试不及格。这不是说着玩的。这种事已屡次发生过。

最后，远离娱乐活动

你的确不会有时间玩乐。

噢，对了，请看看Colleen老师怎么说的：

你们问我如何通过CST课程，我想我没对你们讲过太多吧。最重要的一件事是在家找到一个能帮你的人，就好像你们在这堂课所做的一样。至于其他嘛... 就是我告诉你们该怎样做作业。一拿到作业就马上动手去做。如果有什么不懂，要跟别的同学讨论。如果被作业卡住了，不顺利，出去散散步。干点别的事...,睡几个小时...,多奇妙呀,我们的大脑一直在工作着,当我们不再老想着它时,往往就得到了答案。

你们要做很多团队项目，所以我推荐你马上了解你的同学，看看谁能跟你合作得来。我发现，团队里有不同长处的人在一起，工作效率最好。我见过有几个团队的项目搞砸了，因为某个人非要自己来搞主要部分，不让其他人参与，结果一团糟。

你也许是你团队里年级最大的。不要因此不安。你的人生阅历是你的优点。那些困扰你年轻同学的事情不会再对你造成麻烦了。你可能发现一些同学还不太成熟，但你已知道如何和年青人相处。（我可不会！）我觉得，至少对我而言，年龄并不比共同的目标和兴趣重要。

还有什么呢？...不管你想用什么方法去放松自己,尽管去做。对我来说,是去树林里散步来放松自己的。我还记得一个老师在谈到定下一个长期目标的重要性时说过，你每天都在朝着你的目标迈近，有的事好像与完成CST 课程没有一点关连，但这也并不占用很多时间。也许，就好像学杂技一样吧....