Goals of this post:
- Show my average daily schedule as a student at UofT
7:00 am
Wake up and get ready
Lately I have been trying to wake up earlier, but we all know how hard that is. I usually wake up around 7 am for my 9 am classes. After waking up, I brush my teeth and take a shower.
7:30 am
Eat
I used to skip breakfast a lot but realized that I get hungry around 10 am. Now I try to eat something small like a bagel with a yogurt.
7:45 am
Chill out for a bit
After eating I go back to my room and browse social media for a bit to catch up on the world. If there’s nothing interesting, I usually try to finish some work that needs to be done.
8:30 am
Commute
I leave my house at 8:30 am for school. It takes approximately 15-20 mins depending on how the TTC is feeling.
9:00 am
CLASS 1: Computer Fundamentals Lecture / APS105
10:00 am
CLASS 2: Materials Science Lecture / MSE101
11:00 am
CLASS 3: Calculus 2 Lecture / MAT187
12:00 pm – 2pm
BREAK
During my breaks I usually finish up some work while eating. I also hang out with some of my friends since our schedules match up pretty well.
2:00 pm
CLASS 4: Earth Systems Science Lecture / CME185
Probably the most boring class of the semester. It’s easy, but makes you fall asleep.
3:00 pm
CLASS 5: Engineering Strategies & Practice II Lecture / APS112
This is the largest class in first year, so you are in a class with half of the first year engineering students. You also get a chance to meet people in other disciplines.
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
CLASS 6: Engineering Strategies & Practice II Tutorial / APS112
In this tutorial, each student meets up with their team to discuss and further enhance the designs they have. Each group is assigned a company which has given the group an engineering problem they have to solve. My group and I are currently developing an app that can be loaded onto a restaurant manager’s order-taking device that will take summaries of orders taken, revenue, and profit from several food delivery apps. The developed app will provide recommendations to optimize revenue streams among various apps.
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Going Home 🙂
6:30 pm
Chill for a bit and eat
After a long day of school, I relax for a bit before eating. My roommates and I are all home around this time so we just hang out in the kitchen.
7:30 pm
Work
Grind time.
1:30 am
Time to sleep
I try to sleep as early as I can (if I don’t check my social media for a bit before sleeping haha).
Bikramjit Narwal 
My guy u should vlog or something, ya know what im sayin?
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I agree, you’re an ambitious student and starting your own YouTube channel would be a great way to leave a positive influence on those that look up to you for guidance.
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Where did you buy that whiteboard and how big is it ?
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4 hours of studying is enough?
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Aha no way, just depends on the day
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Hi Bikramjit thank you for your blog, its been really helpful. I have a few questions:
Where did you buy that whiteboard and how big is it ?
Is most of the course dependent on the final exam and what happens if you absolutely choke on it?
Do most people find a job related to engineering for the summer and were you able to find one ?
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Hey, sorry I didn’t read your comment previously about the whiteboard. I don’t know what size it is, but I got it from Walmart for around $20.
Usually, all courses have mark breakdowns. For example, you will notice that most classes will have 1-2 term tests, a final, and some labs/problem sets. Each of these components are worth a percentage of your mark in the class. The final exam usually has the largest amount of percentage (40-50%). If you absolutely choke on the final, you could still be safe from failing depending on how you did on the other components.
I would say most people who tried to look for an Engineering job after first year got one. If you put in the work and network, you should be able to land a job offer. Personally, I did get a job in my field. If you would like more information, I suggest checking out my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bikramjitnarwal/
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Hi,
This blog somehow ended up on my google feed. Great to see they upgraded the lecture halls and that 3D visuals are being used in MSE101. I ended up building my own just to visualize crystallographic planes more.
All the best! It’ll be the best 4 years of your life and it will go by in a blur.
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Yeah the new building is awesome! Thanks for the comment 🙂
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Thanks for your helpful post! I have some questions about the U of T.
1. I’ve heard that most of the undergraduate professors don’t care about teaching students at all and neglect their duties. Is this true, in your opinion?
2. If it is true, how do you study? Do you watch youtube lectures or something like that? I am worried about falling behind in my class due to the poor quality of lectures.
3. I have a solid average (97-98%) and decent ECs. But, the problem is I think I seriously messed my video interview. Do you think that will jeopardize my early admission chance? I really want to get into computer engineering more than any other program.
4. What would you recommend to pre-study before getting into the U of T? I am planning to study Calculus (in addition to the high school Calculus 12), Mechanics, and C-programming during the summer break. Do have any other suggestions? I would welcome both non-academic and academic advice!
5. Do you think taking Biology 11 and 12 in high school is helpful in engineering? I think they are definitely useless, but my school counselor somehow insists on the opposite. Oh, and I hate biology.
Thanks for reading a long list of questions!
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1. I would say this false. Before coming to university I too thought the same, but after attending classes I had realized that this is more of a myth. Many times professors have extended deadlines or helped the class out in some sort of way. They are not all evil I promise haha.
2. To be honest, I do not really learn well in lectures. Most of my learning happens on my own, majority being from YouTube. I find myself not really understanding the material in lecture completely which results in a waste of time. However, if you read the lecture material beforehand, it can be super beneficial (but also takes a lot of discipline). This totally depends on how you learn.
3. Although admission is never guaranteed, I think you should be fine. It probably will not affect your chances.
4. Honestly, if I could go back to the summer before first year university, I would do things which I could put on my resume. Maybe try to get a job or work on some cool projects. These will differentially help you land an internship after first year.
5. I think taking high school biology would be useful for upper year Engineering courses like CIV300, but other than that it is not really used at all. I took biology in grade 11 to keep my options open and ended up not taking it in grade 12. I only took the prerequisites to get into Engineering in grade 12.
Hope that helped!
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Thank you so much. Your comments are always helpful to me. You are my lifesaver!
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Hi. I am trying to pre-study U of T courses based on the engineering 2019-2020 year course syllabus on google. I could easily find the PDF of textbooks, but the problem is there are too many problems in the textbooks. I was quite shocked at how thick a university textbook is. And a few courses even have 3-4 textbooks! I don’t think solving over 3000 problems is efficient as most of the problems are basically repetitions of each other.
Do you have any tips for picking good questions out and studying efficiently?
Also, do U of T professors tell their students which questions on textbooks should they solve?
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Hey Justin, I love your eagerness to go ahead with the school material. Professors usually post a sheet with recommended questions that students should attempt. In your case, I would skip the easy questions and attempt the ones that challenge you.
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