And Then There Was One

One test, that is.

Physics is now, if not out of my life forever, at least out of my life for the next six months. Now that's something I could toast to, if I didn't have more serious work just around the corner. It feels wonderful to be done though.

The test itself wasn't too bad. Not that I did well, I'm sure I didn't, but I didn't do any worse than I have on any of the last few tests. I may have done better, actually - even if just by a tiny margin. I don't know if I'll get the specific grade of this test back, or just my course grade, so I'll have to wait and see. Either way, the actual letter grade I'm getting in that course is a crapshoot. It could be anywhere from a C+ to an A-, I think.

Studying less for this test worked well enough. Maybe it's because I finally studied for it by just spamming through example problems, instead of trying to read the book and understand everything. As I was doing that extensively the other day, and as I was going through my old tests, I discovered something. It turns out that while surface integrals and line integrals might be integral to /Physics/, they probably weren't actually necessary for this course.

I mean, we talked about them, sure. And by understanding them you understand how everything is derived - I imagine that would be neat, if you were the kind of person who could understand it.

But just for the very mundane purposes of getting through this class I could probably have skimmed over most of this book - notably every part featuring an integral of every kind - and I wouldn't have had a much worse grade for it. The time saved would probably have got me a better grade, actually. I'd have learned how to "do" problems, without worrying about trying to learn how to "understand" the problems. It's a cheap way out, but I think it worked on this final (to an extent), and it's probably an approach I should have taken much sooner.

The other problem I had with the tests was just managing to sort through things in time. I froze up a bit more than I'd have liked, which led to me rushing things, which led to some mistakes that - in retrospect - were really not necessary.

But oh well. That's enough of Physics, until I find out what I actually ended up with.

I'd love to take some time off, but I have to get ready for that Chemistry final now. Like I said, its two chapters worth of stuff. I'm hoping to work on 1/2 of a chapter later today (happy reward nap first though - that clearly takes priority...), and then 1/2 of that chapter tomorrow. On Sunday, I can work through the last (and easier) chapter. That time table should work pretty well, if I wake up at a reasonable hour today. If not, I'm confidant I can get it all done over Saturday and Sunday, although that runs the risk of cutting it as close as it was on the last test.

The end is in sight though (well.... if you ignore Biology starting up in like, two weeks).

Before Finals

So, I didn't really study that much for this Physics final. I thought about it, and started, and realized that there was just no way I could reasonably expect to get a semester's worth of stuff in four days - especially when I hadn't got it before and had been putting a lot of work into it then.

So I let the studying slide a bit. Giving up is sad, and not particularly professional, but I just don't want to stress for hours and end up with a D on the test when I could take a much more relaxed approach and end up with a... D on the test. Maybe I'm just trying to rationalize things.

I'm going to work on it a bit today though. I bet there'll be one or two questions from our old exams, so I'll go over those. And I have a feeling about one or two more questions I think we'll be asked, so I'll try to get a handle on that specific stuff as well. A point here and a point there, to try and keep my grade a high D. I'll just hope that when all is said and done, I'll end up with some kind of a B in the course. I have no clue how much our grades will get curved, so I'm just going to be stuck waiting. If I get a C in the class, I think I could have a very serious problem with my applications. If I manage to get any kind of B though, as awful as that will look, I think I'll be able to slide by /if/ I find a way to fix my Physics between now and the point I take the MCAT.

I'm not exactly sure how I'd fix it - that's easier said than done. But 1 year+ is a good deal of time, and now I have a good idea of what the Physics on the test will be like (and a good base to start reviewing/studying from). If I was able to "reteach" myself math for Calculus over a six-month period or so, I'm hoping I can "reteach" myself Physics when given the same ammount of time to focus on it.

As far as this final goes, it will just be nice to get it over with, even though I'm going to walk out with an unhappy feeling. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: "D is for Done".

I'll have to work really hard on chemistry immediately after this test. Redox equations take a bit of thought, but it's nothing I can't handle. I'm certainly fortunate in only having to take the short-version final on two chapters, so I'm pretty sure I can get ready for that in the two/three days I have - it'll just be a very busy few days.

Last Physics Class, EVER!

That is all.

(Physics itself won't vanish, sadly. Still have the Final and the MCAT. No more classes in it for the rest of my life though, if I can help it.... at least not until I've had a chance to do more calculus first >.<)

Finals

So, I need to double check to make absolutely sure this is correct, but it looks like I'm having my Physics final at 8:30 AM on Friday April 30th, and then having my Chemistry final at 8:30 AM on Monday May 3rd at 8:30 AM.

All in all, that's not a horrible set up. It would be nice if I had Chemistry first so I didn't have to study for it after feeling bummed out over Physics, but at least I'll have a whole weekend to get my stuff together for Chemistry. Since it's only two chapters I need to study, I probably won't really start worrying about it too much until (right) after the Physics exam.

Between now and next Friday, I have a lot of Physics to get to. I don't really know how to approach it, and I'm sure it's not going to go well, but I'll work at that really hard over the next week - hey, it's the last week I'll ever have to suffer through a test in that class, so I might as well go out in style.

I have a few other odds and ends to wrap up, but this is pretty much it. My Biology course will start on Monday May 10th, so I can look forward to a week off before that gets underway. Once I get over finals though, and rest up some, I really need to get back to looking for some form of gainful employ. It looks like my last idea didn't pan out - probably because I filled in something badly - but I should find something to be doing besides part-time courses.

Chem Test In

Well, I got a 90% on the Chem test. It's not great but, all things considered, it's not half bad either really. It came in above the average by a bit, and is pretty respectable for a test I took on no sleep and was working on until the last second.

Labs are over now, both Physics and Chemistry. Finals are coming up shortly, although I don't actually have the dates in stone yet. Physics is next Friday (I think), the 30th. I'm not sure about Chemistry. Chemistry shouldn't be /too/ bad to study for, since I get the shortened final. Physics will simply be awful though. It covers everything, and I'm well aware that I won't get a good score on it no matter how much time I put in at this point. I'm just trying to not get a zero... D is for done, right?

I'm really exhausted, but am going to have to work hard on getting in shape for finals starting in a day or two anyways. I might as well give it whatever's left in the tank, and then I can spend a week or two doing absolutely nothing before Biology starts.

Spoon to Caffeine de~

This Chem test was a bit of an ugly affair. I wasn't good to go until an hour beforehand, literally. Not that I hadn't been studying. I've been keeping up with the work quite well, and started studying hard for this test a few days back. I wasn't getting one of the sections though, so I plugged at it. On. And On. And On. It turns out I ended up deciding it would be worth plugging away at it through the night rather than getting some decent sleep.

So I did that, and made really slow progress. After a certain point, you can't really take any more. So you're reading doing problems for 2 hours, then a break. 90 Minutes, break, 60 minutes, break, until you can't keep focus for more than 30 minutes or so and you're exhausted, have a head ache, and dried out eyes.

Every hour or so though, something would manage to "click", which was super fun. If only that worked in Physics too....

I don't know how the test itself went. It certainly didn't go badly, and I'm sure I came in above that 58% mark I need to take the shortened final, if nothing else. I put down a few answers I didn't have absolute faith in, though, and I was so tired at that point it's entirely possible I may have glossed over a negative sign or something in a problem at one point or another. But overall I think the test went well, and I'm pleased I managed to get everything figured out nicely (even if it took until the very last second).

So what next? Relax and enjoy success? Hardly.

I'm going to crash now, because I can't stay up anymore while getting things done. When I wake up, I'll have to do a ton of Physics work as well as write up Physics Lab I don't understand at all. It'll probably take all of tomorrow night (tonight?) as well, actually. Then on Saturday I have to get a really important Chem lab written up too. After that, I (think) I'll have at least one week without too much going on. I can use that time to figure out the schedule of my finals, and set up plans on how to approach those. Sigh.

Oh well. At least I can be comfortable knowing I'll feel right at home if I get hauled off to Gitmo for questioning in the middle of the night.

Raising the Stakes

I'm feeling pretty burned out at this point. It's probably because I spent so much time working on Physics, and got very little out of it. And I've been doing that the whole semester (plus working really hard with Chemistry, although that part's gone well at least). Right now though, I'm feeling a bit dazed, and just really want the whole thing over with. Not that that will actually happen, with summer courses, but I want /this/ semester to just draw to a close - stat.

This summer shouldn't be so bad. It should feel like a fresh start, I'm hoping. And it should be a little less frustrating.

That said, it looks like my upcoming Chemistry exam just got a bit more important. If I can keep my exam average over a 90% after taking this one, I get to take a short six question final exam that's only on the last two chapters we cover. Otherwise, I'm stuck taking a long final that will be much harder to study for.

A six question final obviously has downsides - mess up one question badly, and your grade goes south really fast - but making it so I only have to study two chapters for the final instead of... 12 or so.... that would save me a lot of time and worry.

As things stand, it looks like this means I need a 58% on the next exam (which, you'd think, shouldn't be too hard to manage) to take the shortened final (ie: to have a 90% average going into the final). Of course, I'd like a 100% on the next exam anyways.

Last Physics Test: Returned

Well, not actually returned, but our grades got posted for it online. It won't be returned until class on Friday. The average this time was 68.7% and, apparently, I managed to get a 67%.

Honestly, I have no idea how I scored that "high". It will be interesting to find out. I'll take it though. At this rate, it looks very unlikely that I'll end the course with anything lower than a B (since the test grades will get curved to push the average up to a B, I believe, and I managed to keep an average score despite absolutely completely horrifically dropping the ball on the last test).

I'm a bit worried about the next Chemistry test. The stuff really is trickier than anything we've been doing so far. It's on April 15th, I believe, so I still have some time. I'll devote a lot of work to it this weekend, I guess. Unlike Physics, I'm still confident that working hard in Chemistry will teach me the material and get me good results.