Well, the first of three tests is upon me. It's a take home exam, due on Wednesday the 30th (so I have plenty of time to work on it, even with the fact that I'm going to be busy this weekend driving around to insurance offices because of this car crash I was in last week).
I've given the test a cursory look, and it seems pretty straight forward. Six questions, five of the short essay type and one of the longer essay type. Nothing that seems to be particularly confounding on it. If the essays aren't graded surprisingly harshly (and I doubt they would be, given that the idea of a take home is to make it less stressful and easier), its looking like most of the 75% of our grade from exams is assured, and what will make the difference between a B+ and an A will be how well we can do in Lab.
That car accident I was in really has been a bit of a downer. Above and beyond the obvious fact that having your nice car ruined is no fun, it's giving me a lot of extra paperwork to do, and sending me to all sorts of offices this weekend (I'd much rather be getting started on this test, so I could guarantee a great outcome on it). I'm also sore, all over. The pain meds help that, but they're fogging up my head a little bit too, which doesn't help for this test stuff either. At least this sort of paperwork and pain are problems that are assured of slowly fading away with every passing day.
In unrelated news, I've been trying to upgrade my PC a little bit (I figured it'd be cheaper than getting a new one, and would achieve most of the same things). ... Yeah, no dice. All of the new graphics cards are somehow too big for my tower by the tiniest of margins, and I've been paying ridiculous extras to have people install stuff (that had to be uninstalled afterwards, or was simply no longer needed afterwards because it was only installed to power a card it turned out I couldn't use, or.... nightmare.) I'm done "upgrading" my pc - I'll just take my time to save up for a brand new one down the line, where everything has already been assembled in a way that works. I can't believe I wasted around two hundred dollars and got, effectively, nothing.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bio 110 Grades
Our grades for the first summer session's Biology course came out, and I actually ended up with an A/4.0. That's great, of course, if somewhat unexpected. I'm thinking it means the class as a whole probably got a little curve, which would have bumped me up from the A- I was expecting. More importantly, maybe it means I can ask the teacher for a letter of recommendation after all... I'm really not sure now. At any rate, I worked hard and, despite various moments of drama, it looks like that course went down well.
The second summer session's Biology course (210) started up yesterday. This session we only have class two days a week, although it's for roughly 8 hours at a time, which is a bit much. Both my teacher and my TA seem great though, this time around. The course (as taught by him) seems slightly more laid back too. The exams are going to be three separate take-home essays (And each will be worth 25% of our grade, instead of 20% like last semester).
That will eliminate all the stress of trying to memorize the details of processes because I feel like being OCD again, and hopefully I can end this semester up with an A- or an A as well. That would put me into a pretty strong position, going into Cell Biology and Organic Chemistry next year - the only class I haven't done well in was Physics, and I'll have done almost perfectly in everything else. One thing that's a bit essential is that I get to know the teacher enough that he can give me a letter of rec. Getting five letters of reccomendation is going to be difficult.
The second summer session's Biology course (210) started up yesterday. This session we only have class two days a week, although it's for roughly 8 hours at a time, which is a bit much. Both my teacher and my TA seem great though, this time around. The course (as taught by him) seems slightly more laid back too. The exams are going to be three separate take-home essays (And each will be worth 25% of our grade, instead of 20% like last semester).
That will eliminate all the stress of trying to memorize the details of processes because I feel like being OCD again, and hopefully I can end this semester up with an A- or an A as well. That would put me into a pretty strong position, going into Cell Biology and Organic Chemistry next year - the only class I haven't done well in was Physics, and I'll have done almost perfectly in everything else. One thing that's a bit essential is that I get to know the teacher enough that he can give me a letter of rec. Getting five letters of reccomendation is going to be difficult.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Worst Trip Ever
So my car decided to wrap itself around a tree. I have no memory of how that happened, so it wouldn't surprise me if it had been caused by a seizure happening again for the first time in a long while. It wouldn't shock me if I had got a small concussion in the crash either though, and simply don't remember what occurred for that reason.
I'm lucky, I guess. Whatever happened no on else was hit. I got a lot of small cuts and a tons of bruises, but nothing /really/ damaging happened to me. I still feel sore, and I probably will for the rest of the week, but you could do worse than that given how smashed up the car was when I eventually got back to see it (which makes me want to say I'm unlucky...).
Well. I got helicoptered over to the hospital and woke up on that this time. It freaked me out less than the last time I lost my memory and woke up surrounded by paramedics. Guess it's just something you get used to.... Anyways, after a night in the hospital, my father picked me up, and we managed to get down to the beach for a portion of the originally planned time. It wasn't nearly long enough, but at least I got some good seafood, and a chance to spot the ponies (and a family of ducks that seems to have lived in that town for the past several years).
Today, my second Biology class starts. This one only meets two days a week, but it's for about 8 hours back to back, which sounds absolutely awful. Especially right now. Oh well - there's no choice.
I'm lucky, I guess. Whatever happened no on else was hit. I got a lot of small cuts and a tons of bruises, but nothing /really/ damaging happened to me. I still feel sore, and I probably will for the rest of the week, but you could do worse than that given how smashed up the car was when I eventually got back to see it (which makes me want to say I'm unlucky...).
Well. I got helicoptered over to the hospital and woke up on that this time. It freaked me out less than the last time I lost my memory and woke up surrounded by paramedics. Guess it's just something you get used to.... Anyways, after a night in the hospital, my father picked me up, and we managed to get down to the beach for a portion of the originally planned time. It wasn't nearly long enough, but at least I got some good seafood, and a chance to spot the ponies (and a family of ducks that seems to have lived in that town for the past several years).
Today, my second Biology class starts. This one only meets two days a week, but it's for about 8 hours back to back, which sounds absolutely awful. Especially right now. Oh well - there's no choice.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Beachward Bound
Bio 110 is officially over today. We had our lab final, which went just fine, and I got told that I had the best lab report by far and would have knocked everyone's grade down if we were on a system where the highest score set the curve... which was a bit awkward, but I enjoyed hearing (it was a pretty cool report, actually. I could have done it a bit better if I'd had more time to mess with wording/proofreading, but I tried a new sort of approach I've never gone with before and it came out great).
Not that this makes up for yesterday's real final, of course. A 100 on the lab final today wouldn't be able to bump my grade back up to a 4.0, and the whole thing could only have had a negative impact on my grade (and that only if I'd done really badly). It's still nice to end the course on a positive up-note though, especially since I felt like everything else had gone great up to yesterday. This gets rid of the bad taste it left in my mouth a bit, even if I am stuck with an A- now (the horror).
More interestingly, a strong A in lab means that if I get a B+ for whatever reason I'll /know/ it's because I got hammered on my essays for no valid reason (they weren't bad). Which, in turn, means I'll know not to ask this teacher for a letter of rec (which could be a problem... I probably need a letter from the pre-med advisor, unless I can get the kind people at Vanderbilt to provide one for me beyond the cover they offered).
An A- is looking likely for my final grade. An actual A is still possible if a curve gets applied to the whole class (even if it's a tiny curve, it would probably still get it done for me). We'll see what happens.
At any rate, I've gotten a good read on myself out of this class - and that's invaluable. It wasn't easy like some of my other classes, and I found out that I was perfectly capable of getting it done well up until the very end, when I got too arrogant to study or... whatever it is that gave me that face-palm moment. I also got that I'm not at the top of the top - I was getting low A's and an A- on the tests, nothing like solid 100s.
It goes to show the importance of hard work, I guess. I've been on a reading binge lately, going through the works of Haruki Murakami, and that's something he talked about a lot in his pseudo-memoir. It's also a theme that creeps up in most of his books. How very few people are actually truly exceptional, and even those who seem so have a pool of talent that can dry up. Working hard can go a long way in compensating for lacking talent, and not working hard because of talent can ruin you if your talent pool ever does dry up and you're not able to handle it. (He's a fun author, and has some good books worth checking out if you want to read someone more interesting than me).
All this said, it's break time! *(For three days).
I'm going to make the most of it though: early tomorrow morning I'm heading out to this beach and wildlife preserve I go to every year tomorrow morning. I'm stuck going by myself this time, but it will still be a nice break from work. There's a ton of birds, and usually you get to see lots of wild deer and ponies too. Sometimes you get to see something really neat - I remember once there was an epically huge crab that just jumped in front of me and ran faster than you could possibly believe. And speaking of Murakami, I'm bringing his newest book with me as well.
Once I'm back, I'll find out what my grade in Bio was, and will dive headfirst into 210.
Not that this makes up for yesterday's real final, of course. A 100 on the lab final today wouldn't be able to bump my grade back up to a 4.0, and the whole thing could only have had a negative impact on my grade (and that only if I'd done really badly). It's still nice to end the course on a positive up-note though, especially since I felt like everything else had gone great up to yesterday. This gets rid of the bad taste it left in my mouth a bit, even if I am stuck with an A- now (the horror).
More interestingly, a strong A in lab means that if I get a B+ for whatever reason I'll /know/ it's because I got hammered on my essays for no valid reason (they weren't bad). Which, in turn, means I'll know not to ask this teacher for a letter of rec (which could be a problem... I probably need a letter from the pre-med advisor, unless I can get the kind people at Vanderbilt to provide one for me beyond the cover they offered).
An A- is looking likely for my final grade. An actual A is still possible if a curve gets applied to the whole class (even if it's a tiny curve, it would probably still get it done for me). We'll see what happens.
At any rate, I've gotten a good read on myself out of this class - and that's invaluable. It wasn't easy like some of my other classes, and I found out that I was perfectly capable of getting it done well up until the very end, when I got too arrogant to study or... whatever it is that gave me that face-palm moment. I also got that I'm not at the top of the top - I was getting low A's and an A- on the tests, nothing like solid 100s.
It goes to show the importance of hard work, I guess. I've been on a reading binge lately, going through the works of Haruki Murakami, and that's something he talked about a lot in his pseudo-memoir. It's also a theme that creeps up in most of his books. How very few people are actually truly exceptional, and even those who seem so have a pool of talent that can dry up. Working hard can go a long way in compensating for lacking talent, and not working hard because of talent can ruin you if your talent pool ever does dry up and you're not able to handle it. (He's a fun author, and has some good books worth checking out if you want to read someone more interesting than me).
All this said, it's break time! *(For three days).
I'm going to make the most of it though: early tomorrow morning I'm heading out to this beach and wildlife preserve I go to every year tomorrow morning. I'm stuck going by myself this time, but it will still be a nice break from work. There's a ton of birds, and usually you get to see lots of wild deer and ponies too. Sometimes you get to see something really neat - I remember once there was an epically huge crab that just jumped in front of me and ran faster than you could possibly believe. And speaking of Murakami, I'm bringing his newest book with me as well.
Once I'm back, I'll find out what my grade in Bio was, and will dive headfirst into 210.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hamartia
I guess an error was made in preparing for this last test; or in failing to do so adequately, rather.
It didn't go well. I'd guess I got a B, probably on the low end. Certainly low enough to knock my A down to an A-. It shouldn't be low enough to lock my A- to a B+, but now it's close enough that the teacher could make it a B+ by giving me an arbitrarily low score on those essays, if she felt like it.
Not a good ending to the course, although it could certainly have been much worse. It's easy to feel overconfident when you've had no problems with the first two tests and everyone else has been, I guess. I didn't study enough early enough, and by the time I started and realized that this test had much more on it than the others, it was too late.
No one's fault but mine.
It didn't go well. I'd guess I got a B, probably on the low end. Certainly low enough to knock my A down to an A-. It shouldn't be low enough to lock my A- to a B+, but now it's close enough that the teacher could make it a B+ by giving me an arbitrarily low score on those essays, if she felt like it.
Not a good ending to the course, although it could certainly have been much worse. It's easy to feel overconfident when you've had no problems with the first two tests and everyone else has been, I guess. I didn't study enough early enough, and by the time I started and realized that this test had much more on it than the others, it was too late.
No one's fault but mine.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Sweeps Week and Shopping
Well, with the final exam this coming Wednesday Bio 110 is pretty much finished up now. It's going to be a tremendously busy week though - I also have to type up a lab report for Tuesday and Thursday, a little essay on genetics for Wednesday, and I have my lab "final" on Thursday as well. I'm set up for it pretty well though, I think. It would be nice if I'd managed to get my mini-essay or something done today, but I'm still in pretty good shape.
I'm hoping to do the essay and the first lab report tomorrow, so I can study really hard for the exam on Monday and Tuesday. I'm current on the reading for it already (or will be once I catch up on 10 or 15 pages with my morning coffee tomorrow), so those two evenings would both be solid study time rather than just "learning" time.
It's shaping up to be the hardest test of the semester, in terms of the amount of mechanisms that need to be memorized. I don't think it's anything I can't handle though. What will be interesting to see is my final grade in the course, as long as I can get an A- or better on this final that is. How the grade comes out will go a /long/ way towards determining if this is a teacher I can ask for a letter of rec in the future or not, my "this answer is correct, your question is in error" escapade notwithstanding. If I get an A in the course, (which is probably what I'd average, barring any vindictive essay grading) I can feel pretty secure. A B+ would show that I'd been hammered on the essays for no good reason though, and that I should seek letters elsewhere. An A- might show that as well, although it would be harder to pin down.
At any rate, I bought a new 23" HD monitor to celebrate finishing this class up, and am typing from it right now. It's really neat, and I have a new wall paper up that looks absolutely gorgeous at this resolution. I'm also going to get a three-day weekend at the beach once this week is over, and am /definitely/ looking forward to that. The forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms on two of the three days, but that's not too bad - especially if they're just scattered. When I get back to town, classes will start right up again with the higher level Bio 210, but I'll also get to see a band I like that's coming to town, and a friend who's coming over from Europe for a few days. Speaking of friends, I even ran into some from high school the other day and we're probably going to get together a bit too. Good times, as long as I force myself to keep my focus on the work that has to be done rather than the fun I could be having.
I'm hoping to do the essay and the first lab report tomorrow, so I can study really hard for the exam on Monday and Tuesday. I'm current on the reading for it already (or will be once I catch up on 10 or 15 pages with my morning coffee tomorrow), so those two evenings would both be solid study time rather than just "learning" time.
It's shaping up to be the hardest test of the semester, in terms of the amount of mechanisms that need to be memorized. I don't think it's anything I can't handle though. What will be interesting to see is my final grade in the course, as long as I can get an A- or better on this final that is. How the grade comes out will go a /long/ way towards determining if this is a teacher I can ask for a letter of rec in the future or not, my "this answer is correct, your question is in error" escapade notwithstanding. If I get an A in the course, (which is probably what I'd average, barring any vindictive essay grading) I can feel pretty secure. A B+ would show that I'd been hammered on the essays for no good reason though, and that I should seek letters elsewhere. An A- might show that as well, although it would be harder to pin down.
At any rate, I bought a new 23" HD monitor to celebrate finishing this class up, and am typing from it right now. It's really neat, and I have a new wall paper up that looks absolutely gorgeous at this resolution. I'm also going to get a three-day weekend at the beach once this week is over, and am /definitely/ looking forward to that. The forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms on two of the three days, but that's not too bad - especially if they're just scattered. When I get back to town, classes will start right up again with the higher level Bio 210, but I'll also get to see a band I like that's coming to town, and a friend who's coming over from Europe for a few days. Speaking of friends, I even ran into some from high school the other day and we're probably going to get together a bit too. Good times, as long as I force myself to keep my focus on the work that has to be done rather than the fun I could be having.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Persistance Pays Off. Somewhat.
I showed up with various highlighted articles. Each stated cases where temperature had a significant impact on at least one portion of the cell cycle, or the creation of a component necessary for the cycle's progression. It was a pretty open/shut case. It was pretty awkward.
I started trying to say that I picked cell damage simply because it sounded as if it was an internal cause, when the question was asking for external causes. I tried that first because it would have been an easy fix that shouldn't have upset anyone (and I think it was true). It didn't fly though, so I either had to go to option two and bring out my papers, or just walk away. If you've been reading this, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I decided to pull out the papers.
I got my points back (yay, no more B+). I also got what felt like an icy stare of death. I started trying to summarize the articles, and got cut off with an "I can read them myself," so I don't think it worked out well at all in that regard. I have a sneaking suspicion it didn't actually change my final grade either - 15% of our grade is locked up in a few short essays, and none have been returned to us yet. That's a bit suspicious, given the incredible turn around on the tests themselves, and I suspect that 15% is effectively being held as a kind of "participation/misc" grade.
Maybe I shot my chance at a letter of rec too (and an important one, at that...). Although if simply trying to straighten something like this out shot my chance at a letter, I don't know... science is supposed to be about getting to the facts at the bottom of things. I just wanted credit for what was - with ample proof - a correct answer. Or at the /very/ least a situationally correct answer. I worked really hard getting ready for the test, and knew the answer to the question. I think it was reasonable to want credit for it.
I wish things had gone better, atmosphere wise. I have a habit, it seems, of creating difficulties with people when I really really don't mean to. It's unfortunate. Offending someone over their test was the last thing on my mind. I'm just really concerned over grades, since I can't really fall back on anything if I don't manage to get into a medical school. And I'm a bit OCD. Once doing this got into my head, it couldn't get out until it was done.
Outcome wise, at least, it felt nice. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to call it a defining moment in my journey. I felt decidedly scientific, having spent the weekend pulling up journal articles focusing on things related to (but beyond) what I'd covered, and working hard to make sense of them. It was a pretty inspirational process, from the moment I decided to fix things to the moment things got fixed.
I only wish I hadn't (possibly) blown the chance for a crucial letter of rec in the process. (And, similarly but slightly separate - I wish I hadn't upset anyone's feelings over the matter).
I started trying to say that I picked cell damage simply because it sounded as if it was an internal cause, when the question was asking for external causes. I tried that first because it would have been an easy fix that shouldn't have upset anyone (and I think it was true). It didn't fly though, so I either had to go to option two and bring out my papers, or just walk away. If you've been reading this, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I decided to pull out the papers.
I got my points back (yay, no more B+). I also got what felt like an icy stare of death. I started trying to summarize the articles, and got cut off with an "I can read them myself," so I don't think it worked out well at all in that regard. I have a sneaking suspicion it didn't actually change my final grade either - 15% of our grade is locked up in a few short essays, and none have been returned to us yet. That's a bit suspicious, given the incredible turn around on the tests themselves, and I suspect that 15% is effectively being held as a kind of "participation/misc" grade.
Maybe I shot my chance at a letter of rec too (and an important one, at that...). Although if simply trying to straighten something like this out shot my chance at a letter, I don't know... science is supposed to be about getting to the facts at the bottom of things. I just wanted credit for what was - with ample proof - a correct answer. Or at the /very/ least a situationally correct answer. I worked really hard getting ready for the test, and knew the answer to the question. I think it was reasonable to want credit for it.
I wish things had gone better, atmosphere wise. I have a habit, it seems, of creating difficulties with people when I really really don't mean to. It's unfortunate. Offending someone over their test was the last thing on my mind. I'm just really concerned over grades, since I can't really fall back on anything if I don't manage to get into a medical school. And I'm a bit OCD. Once doing this got into my head, it couldn't get out until it was done.
Outcome wise, at least, it felt nice. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to call it a defining moment in my journey. I felt decidedly scientific, having spent the weekend pulling up journal articles focusing on things related to (but beyond) what I'd covered, and working hard to make sense of them. It was a pretty inspirational process, from the moment I decided to fix things to the moment things got fixed.
I only wish I hadn't (possibly) blown the chance for a crucial letter of rec in the process. (And, similarly but slightly separate - I wish I hadn't upset anyone's feelings over the matter).
Thursday, June 3, 2010
I'm Going to Do Something
About that 89. Or try to do something, at least.
I talked about complaining after the last test, but never did. Because clearly it would have been inappropriate given the circumstances. This time though, I might actually do it in regard to that one question where I changed my answer because of the word "external".
I've found a paper from 1978 from Trinity College at the University of Dublin, claiming that an experiment showed temperature did affect cell cycle time in particular cases with HeLa cells. A second paper from 1985 from Northwestern talks about the effects of extreme heat shock on the Mitotic cycle when cells are shifted between severly warm and severly cold environments, and back again, with no time to adjust. There seems to have been some impact there as well. If I have some free time this weekend, I'm going to go through these papers, look for others, cite them - and then go ask for at least one of my two points back (I'll also point out that a cell's damage was an /internal/ condition).
Is it petty? Yes. (Remember when I was talking about being OCD in my studying a few posts back? This sort of nonsense is a great example of that...) Is it going to change my final grade in the course? Probably not, even if I get it changed on this one question. Will it make me feel better? Absolutely.
The only real question is how it will make the teacher feel... will she start thinking of me as a completely insufferable person who went out of the way to get 1-2% back on an exam in which they didn't do badly in the first place, or will they be marginally impressed by the fact I cared enough to do outside research, cite it, and bring it up? If I'm polite about the whole thing... I don't know. It could go either way, and make them think better about me or worse.
Edit: Just got that Lab "exam" back this afternoon, and I actually got an A- on it instead of the B/B+ I thought I might have had, so that's more good news. It looks like my lab grade now is a strong A, and will help drag the overall grade up to a 4.0 if it ends up just a bit short of that.
I talked about complaining after the last test, but never did. Because clearly it would have been inappropriate given the circumstances. This time though, I might actually do it in regard to that one question where I changed my answer because of the word "external".
I've found a paper from 1978 from Trinity College at the University of Dublin, claiming that an experiment showed temperature did affect cell cycle time in particular cases with HeLa cells. A second paper from 1985 from Northwestern talks about the effects of extreme heat shock on the Mitotic cycle when cells are shifted between severly warm and severly cold environments, and back again, with no time to adjust. There seems to have been some impact there as well. If I have some free time this weekend, I'm going to go through these papers, look for others, cite them - and then go ask for at least one of my two points back (I'll also point out that a cell's damage was an /internal/ condition).
Is it petty? Yes. (Remember when I was talking about being OCD in my studying a few posts back? This sort of nonsense is a great example of that...) Is it going to change my final grade in the course? Probably not, even if I get it changed on this one question. Will it make me feel better? Absolutely.
The only real question is how it will make the teacher feel... will she start thinking of me as a completely insufferable person who went out of the way to get 1-2% back on an exam in which they didn't do badly in the first place, or will they be marginally impressed by the fact I cared enough to do outside research, cite it, and bring it up? If I'm polite about the whole thing... I don't know. It could go either way, and make them think better about me or worse.
Edit: Just got that Lab "exam" back this afternoon, and I actually got an A- on it instead of the B/B+ I thought I might have had, so that's more good news. It looks like my lab grade now is a strong A, and will help drag the overall grade up to a 4.0 if it ends up just a bit short of that.
More Specifically
Having had the night to dwell on it more, here's why I'm really disappointed in this test. Of the 11% points I didn't get, 6% was on questions that I knew would be there. I didn't know the actual questions, but I had convinced myself that there would be a question on one of the various cycles asking what the impacts of taking away "x" or damaging "y" would be, and I was convinced that there would be a question asking for a definition of a basic and simple term that featured two-plus key components. I also knew I'd have trouble answering both of those things (for different reasons) before I even walked into the exam. And I didn't (couldn't?) do anything about it.
I'm not sure if not doing anything about it or being unable to do anything about it is worse. In the first case I'd have been lazy, in the second - merely incompetent (the word's a bit strong, but you get the point).
Another 2% was lost on a question I knew the answer to, but went back and second guessed myself on. It was a question on what external factors impact the cell cycle. The answer was cell damage, and I knew it, but I picked something else because a cell's damage is - technically - an internal factor. :: Sigh ::
Only 3% was lost on stuff that I don't "regret". I really could/should have had my A on this.
The positive take, I guess, is that I'm apparently good at reading this teacher's tests at this point. So hopefully I can figure out the final, and not have any questions I know I'll have difficulty with when I walk in to take it. I should also avoid second guessing myself over phrasing, because these tests apparently aren't designed to try and catch us on minute details like that. I really want a 100 on the final. Or something very near that. Time to go to work.
I'm not sure if not doing anything about it or being unable to do anything about it is worse. In the first case I'd have been lazy, in the second - merely incompetent (the word's a bit strong, but you get the point).
Another 2% was lost on a question I knew the answer to, but went back and second guessed myself on. It was a question on what external factors impact the cell cycle. The answer was cell damage, and I knew it, but I picked something else because a cell's damage is - technically - an internal factor. :: Sigh ::
Only 3% was lost on stuff that I don't "regret". I really could/should have had my A on this.
The positive take, I guess, is that I'm apparently good at reading this teacher's tests at this point. So hopefully I can figure out the final, and not have any questions I know I'll have difficulty with when I walk in to take it. I should also avoid second guessing myself over phrasing, because these tests apparently aren't designed to try and catch us on minute details like that. I really want a 100 on the final. Or something very near that. Time to go to work.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Bio Test Two
We got the test back the same day again, which was nice. The test itself wasn't so nice; its embarrassing to have to admit I got an 89. I'm curious what the class average is... Ultimately it doesn't really matter how I stack up to anyone but myself though, so I guess it's really a moot point. I know I did better than 1/2 of us at the least, although I have no clue how the other 4 people did.
An 89 isn't awful: I'm just disappointed. I can rattle off a ton of stuff that wasn't on the test in some great detail. I guess I'm OCD of sorts, and had to make myself study all that stuff again when I knew it wouldn't be on the test. Then, like last time, I managed to miss some more or less obvious stuff. It's pretty inexcusable - if I'm going to spend so long getting all the detail down, why do I miss some surface stuff?
Well. Here we are. The class is 2/3 done. My GPA is still ok actually. It's a 3.7/A- at worst, and probably still a 4.0/A once you take lab into account. Unfortunately, I'm now in a position of /having/ to do well in lab to keep that 4.0 though... unless I get a 100% on the final. It's not a great position to be in. It's not like an A- average in the course would be unacceptable, but I really really want to get that A since it's within reach, what with Physics and all.
An 89 isn't awful: I'm just disappointed. I can rattle off a ton of stuff that wasn't on the test in some great detail. I guess I'm OCD of sorts, and had to make myself study all that stuff again when I knew it wouldn't be on the test. Then, like last time, I managed to miss some more or less obvious stuff. It's pretty inexcusable - if I'm going to spend so long getting all the detail down, why do I miss some surface stuff?
Well. Here we are. The class is 2/3 done. My GPA is still ok actually. It's a 3.7/A- at worst, and probably still a 4.0/A once you take lab into account. Unfortunately, I'm now in a position of /having/ to do well in lab to keep that 4.0 though... unless I get a 100% on the final. It's not a great position to be in. It's not like an A- average in the course would be unacceptable, but I really really want to get that A since it's within reach, what with Physics and all.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
No Luck
Looks like this job's not going to work out. I can't say I'm particularly surprised, and its nice that someone actually got back to me this time. Oh well.
We had a lab "exam" in class today, which was worth about 1/5 of our Lab Grade (which is worth about 1/4 of our total grade in turn). It didn't go great - not that it went badly, I probably got a B+ or something. I'm a bit annoyed, because I realised stuff I'd forgotten to do right after I walked out. It's not a big deal though - unless I failed it (which I didn't), it's impossible for it to seriously impact my overall grade as long as I keep doing well on the real exams.
As far as those real exams, I'm a bit behind the ball again. I've gone over all the material, but am a bit thrown off by all the extra detail in the book that we didn't do in class. I'm assuming that it won't be on the test: that sort of detail wasn't last time. I'm not 100% sure though, which is making stuff a bit stressful. I'll go over it again tonight, and get up early tomorrow so I can get all the important processes down flawlessly. Hopefully the less important stuff will just show up on multiple choice, and I'll know the answer (or be able to narrow it down and guess with some fortune).
We had a lab "exam" in class today, which was worth about 1/5 of our Lab Grade (which is worth about 1/4 of our total grade in turn). It didn't go great - not that it went badly, I probably got a B+ or something. I'm a bit annoyed, because I realised stuff I'd forgotten to do right after I walked out. It's not a big deal though - unless I failed it (which I didn't), it's impossible for it to seriously impact my overall grade as long as I keep doing well on the real exams.
As far as those real exams, I'm a bit behind the ball again. I've gone over all the material, but am a bit thrown off by all the extra detail in the book that we didn't do in class. I'm assuming that it won't be on the test: that sort of detail wasn't last time. I'm not 100% sure though, which is making stuff a bit stressful. I'll go over it again tonight, and get up early tomorrow so I can get all the important processes down flawlessly. Hopefully the less important stuff will just show up on multiple choice, and I'll know the answer (or be able to narrow it down and guess with some fortune).
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