Well, it wasn't shockingly exciting, but I thought the start of my Calculus course was enough of a landmark to justify a post.
The instructor seems decent, and his voice is clear (which was a problem with the Russian TA/Instructor I had during undergrad, when I dropped it). Also, we get to use our graphing calculators (something I wasn't able to do in my previously ill-fated attempt).
The course is fairly small, as you might expect in Summer. I don't know the people in it, but they seem to range from High School students trying to get something impressive on their college applications to students who did poorly at Math in college and had to try it again, to a few random people like myself. Unlike law school, grades aren't curved, so I could really care less who's in it. The only person to compete against is myself.
The course format is more like a college course than my previous law courses (... go figure, right? ~.~) .... which is to say it has two tests worth 25% each, and a final worth 30%. The homework actually counts for part of our grade (again, that wasn't the case with my previous math course), which should be a free 20% unless I manage to fall asleep at the wheel.
We opened with the standard overview of the course, syllabus, etc, and took a small diagnostic test not unlike the placement test I've already done. Only this time, it was for the teacher's benefit, so he can try to figure out where everyone is, and how much time needs to be dumped on review (one day, or two). I didn't do great, but that's mostly because my mind blanked on some easy problems with inequalities and protracted division. By the time I remembered, I'd wasted a bit too much time.
I knew how to do it, and went on to make sure I could once I got back home. It's also the kind of problem I wouldn't have on a regular test, when I'm prepared and expecting it. Otherwise, there were still a few issues. I'll see how much we cover them in class tomorrow. If they're not fixed then, I'll spend a day immediately fixing it myself.
I think I'm getting a positive vibe from this though, to start things off at least. It should be more comfortable than the last time I tried (Apart from the intense nature of it; each of the two tests and our final is only separated by two weeks).
