My University Living Matters

Dear Reader/Subscriber,

At university, students are fully responsible for not only their studies📝 but also living matters🏠. There is a lot to do when entering campus and during study.

This includes:

  • Course Enrollment & Payments 💸
  • Check Lesson Schedule 🗓️ & Find Classrooms 🧑‍🏫
  • Check University Email 📩
  • Check Course Announcements 📣
  • Check Graduation Requirements ☑️
  • Apply to Opportunities & Halls 👆
  • Pay for Hall Laundry/AC 🧺💨

In this article, I will introduce and explain what I did before and at the start of my university journey🚄.

Read Article >

University Living Matters Article Thumbnail

Entering CS+AI University Major

In July 2024, the Major Selection results (in Year 1) was announced📣, where I successfully entered✅ Computer Science Major plus Artificial Intelligence (AI) Extended Major.

In Year 1, we choose our majors which will be decided based on grades and rankings📊. This is our university's Major Selection Exercise.

Relevant information were updated on my website's About page🪪 and sidebar.

Requirements for My Majors:

  • Computer Science (CS) Major:
    Rank📊 by Courses with Best Grades (24 Credits)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) Extended Major:
    • CGA >= 2.500; and
    • Rank📊 by GPA including:
      • COMP1021 Course (3 credits); and
      • MATH1014 Course (3 credits); and
      • The Remaining Corses with Best Grades (24 - 6 = 18 Credits)
    • Learn More

* GPA = Grade Point Average (range: 0.000 to 4.300 at our university; keep 3 decimal places (3 d.p.))

* CGA = Cumulative Grade (Point) Average (for courses at the entire university journey)

Ken's Study Journey Reminder:
Regardless of the results, every single application and trial bring you a wonderful experience.

Reminder:
As shared in the article mentioned above⬆️, before next term (commencing from 2nd September), I will need to:

  • Check Major Requirements 📋
  • Choose and Enrol in Courses ☑️
  • Pay Tuition and Hall Fee 💸
  • Renew my Student Octopus (Student Status) 💳

Did you Know?
You can learn more (such as Academic Calendar) on our university website (hkust.edu.hk).

Exploring my Home City - Guangzhou

In addition to my study journey in high school and university, I would like to introduce and share my home city, Guangzhou, exploring a range of places, food🌯 and high-tech.

My university, HKUST, also has its Guangzhou campus🏛️, in addition to the one (Clear Water Bay (Hong Kong) Campus) I am studying at🧑‍🎓.

My favourite places include:

  1. Canton Tower
  2. Huacheng Square (Zhujiang New Town)
  3. Guangzhou Library
  4. Party Pier
  5. Pazhou Internet Innovation Area
  6. Canton Fair Complex
  7. Haizhu Square
  8. Shamian Island
  9. Baiyun Mountain
  10. HKUST (Guangzhou Campus)

Read Article >

My Guangzhou Favourites Article Thumbnail

Ken's Study Planner Database Upgrade

Around April 2024, Ken's Study Planner experienced degraded performance🐢 (taking 2 to 10 seconds to load data).

After my investigation, it was caused by the database algorithm problem.

Since millions of lines of data accumulated in one file📚 (which should be separated), it wasted the server's CPU and memory.

I spent around a month (June 2024) and managed to upgrade the databases (of Ken's Study Planner)✨ without interrupting services.

View Notice >

Recovering my Communication & Collaboration Skills

In recent months, I found my daily topics technical🛠️ and I tend to always uphold my opinions. This is why I worked very hard on my personal project (technical side) rather than joining external activities.

After my investigation, this was caused by my "Personal Lockdown"🚧 in 2022 (my high school A Level journey).

Avoiding impacts from negative students, I focused on academics (getting A*s) while giving up my communciation and collaboration skills.

This is also why I turned off the "Comment" function on my website in 2023 (until further notice).

The lockdown was removed🔓 upon my high school graduation🎓. However, I found myself hard to communicate and collaborate with others.

More details will be available (explained further) in the next article📄.

About Me

Hello there! I am Ken, a student at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (previously an International A Level student).

In my free time, I share my study tips, habits, tools and school/campus life.

I am from Guangzhou, China. I speak English and Chinese.

Have any questions or need help? Feel free to contact me and I am here to help you.