Well, I just got the second biology test back and -believe it or not - I apparently got a 100. I'm not quite sure how to explain it... maybe the teacher didn't have enough time and rushed to grade them, maybe everyone else did much worse than I did on the first test and he had to grade this one more loosely to get everything back in balance, or maybe I was being a bit too hard on myself. Who knows.
Either way, this means I technically now have an A in the class. Until our lab final on wednesday, at least. That should knock it down to an A- (because I can tell I'll have issues spotting what veins and arteries are what in a dead rat), which is still a perfectly fine grade to end up with.
Now everything come down to the last test, due this coming Saturday. Hopefully, with a bit of work on it, I can keep an A- for the course. Maybe I can get lucky and manage another 100, and actually end up with a completely unexpected A. This is a very fortunate development.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Bad Puns Are Bad
Rat dissection lab continues today. Last lab, the title in the manual was "Getting to Know Your Rat". Fair enough. The next part featured cutting the rat open so you could examine its digestive and urogenital systems.
The title? "Getting to Know Your Rat Inside-Out".
... Sigh.
The title? "Getting to Know Your Rat Inside-Out".
... Sigh.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dissections
So we got to cut up big rats in our last lab. What made it mostly unpleasant, to me at least, was peeling the skin off. Cutting through the muscles and sorting the organs and everything was fine, but something about peeling the skin off bit by bit just wasn't fun at all. The preservatives and such used weren't too fun either - they smelled kind of rancid.
It was interesting getting a chance to look at all the organs and the circulatory system, and I got my first look at the superior/inferior vena cava, which I've always wanted to see. In all fairness though, I don't think what I learned justified that poor rats slow suffocating death so I could do this. Their tongues were all stiff and hanging out of their mouths still when we got them. Oh well.
I also found out that next week is actually the final week of this course. I'd lost track of when it was supposed to end, and that completely shocked me since we just handed in our second exam. It looks like the time between exams wasn't particularly balanced though, and now I get to turn around and do my final over this coming weekend. It's just as good, really: this course needs to end. For whatever reason I'm not all that into things, and I could use two weeks or so to reset before I start the harder courses this fall. I have another trip booked for the beach, although this time I get to go with/be driven by my parents on account of having mangled my own car in the last attempt.
Looking forward to that trip - hopefully I can manage it without serious injury this time...
It was interesting getting a chance to look at all the organs and the circulatory system, and I got my first look at the superior/inferior vena cava, which I've always wanted to see. In all fairness though, I don't think what I learned justified that poor rats slow suffocating death so I could do this. Their tongues were all stiff and hanging out of their mouths still when we got them. Oh well.
I also found out that next week is actually the final week of this course. I'd lost track of when it was supposed to end, and that completely shocked me since we just handed in our second exam. It looks like the time between exams wasn't particularly balanced though, and now I get to turn around and do my final over this coming weekend. It's just as good, really: this course needs to end. For whatever reason I'm not all that into things, and I could use two weeks or so to reset before I start the harder courses this fall. I have another trip booked for the beach, although this time I get to go with/be driven by my parents on account of having mangled my own car in the last attempt.
Looking forward to that trip - hopefully I can manage it without serious injury this time...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tears
Fun Fact: After binding to a bacterial cell wall, viruses use an enzyme called lysozyme to degrade the wall and enter. This same enzyme is present in human tears, where it acts as an antibiotic to protect our eyes.
Picked that up working on my exam, and thought it was neat.
The exam is going fairly well. Its almost done now (as well it should be). Some of it was more involved than I'd anticipated though, and the questions I finished up yesterday aren't really "finished" to a perfect standard. So I guess it looks like I relaxed a bit too much when all was said and done anyways. It's not badly done though... we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll get another B+. I really have this awful tendency to become lazy, and I can't believe I let it happen this semester after working so hard the last one. It's disappointing. I'm still sliding by, a B+ isn't awful, and it's quite possible I can up my grade to an A- or A even if I do get another B+. It's just disappointing. And not good.
It makes me worry about the actual application process down the road from here. I have a deep seeded fear of not making it, and am acutely aware of several people more qualified to get into med schools than I am (unless you count the whole I got unexplained epilepsy/I care thing as a strong reason to think I should get in).
I can finish this class sliding by, but if I get (or stay) lazy next semester when I have hard courses again, I'll be ruined. Must fix.
Picked that up working on my exam, and thought it was neat.
The exam is going fairly well. Its almost done now (as well it should be). Some of it was more involved than I'd anticipated though, and the questions I finished up yesterday aren't really "finished" to a perfect standard. So I guess it looks like I relaxed a bit too much when all was said and done anyways. It's not badly done though... we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll get another B+. I really have this awful tendency to become lazy, and I can't believe I let it happen this semester after working so hard the last one. It's disappointing. I'm still sliding by, a B+ isn't awful, and it's quite possible I can up my grade to an A- or A even if I do get another B+. It's just disappointing. And not good.
It makes me worry about the actual application process down the road from here. I have a deep seeded fear of not making it, and am acutely aware of several people more qualified to get into med schools than I am (unless you count the whole I got unexplained epilepsy/I care thing as a strong reason to think I should get in).
I can finish this class sliding by, but if I get (or stay) lazy next semester when I have hard courses again, I'll be ruined. Must fix.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Bio 210: Test Two
Ok. Well, I was planning on catching up to the reading, but we got our second test e-mailed to us early this time (which is great). It's going to be due the 19th (next Monday), so I have part of this weekend and all of next weekend to work on it. Not to mention the whole week stuck in between those two.
Unlike the first test, this one clearly indicates that we can use our book or other sources, so long as we cite them. (Which isn't as big a deal as you might think, because its designed so all the questions are broad and conceptual rather than "______ is the name for a the component of a plants vascular tissue that....").
Anyways. The net effect of this (for better or worse), is that it's going to discourage me from leisurely catching up as I had planned. Instead, I'm going to treat it as a research project and only read the material that's directly targeted at the questions here. There's six questions or so, which means that if I start today or tomorrow I can go at the very comfortable rate of answering one question per day, and I'll still have some time left over to review it/take care of stuff if something unexpected comes up.
This probably isn't the best long-term approach, but it's a nicely stress free approach that should (hopefully) get me a decent score on this test. That makes it a better short-term approach than worrying about all the things that aren't on the test, and then ending up with only two or three days for the actual exam.
Unlike the first test, this one clearly indicates that we can use our book or other sources, so long as we cite them. (Which isn't as big a deal as you might think, because its designed so all the questions are broad and conceptual rather than "______ is the name for a the component of a plants vascular tissue that....").
Anyways. The net effect of this (for better or worse), is that it's going to discourage me from leisurely catching up as I had planned. Instead, I'm going to treat it as a research project and only read the material that's directly targeted at the questions here. There's six questions or so, which means that if I start today or tomorrow I can go at the very comfortable rate of answering one question per day, and I'll still have some time left over to review it/take care of stuff if something unexpected comes up.
This probably isn't the best long-term approach, but it's a nicely stress free approach that should (hopefully) get me a decent score on this test. That makes it a better short-term approach than worrying about all the things that aren't on the test, and then ending up with only two or three days for the actual exam.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Bio 210 Test Back
Well, I haven't posted in awhile. I've been feeling pretty out of it the last two weeks or so after the accident. I've had headaches and felt kind of light headed. I'm not sure how much of that was due to the painkillers, but it wasn't all of it. I think I'm starting to feel better as of yesterday though, although I'm not quite back yet.
Anyways. We got the Biology test back today and I got a B+ on it. It's not a particularly good grade, but given the way I've been doing the last two weeks I think a decent case can be made that its not a particularly bad grade either. There are two tests left, so there's still plenty of room to try and nudge my grade back up to an A of some type. I think I can do better on the next one - I'll certainly feel better when I'm trying to get it done.
My grade in the lab portion is probably a B+ as well as of now, so ideally one of the two things has to get up a tiny bit between now and the end of the course.
Our classes are running longer this Semester, going for the full three hours instead of the ~2 hours and change my last two summer courses have (typically) run. It's been really hard to sit through that with my headaches and dizziness, and its been frustrating because I think what's covered could be covered more efficiently. I'm also less interested in what we're doing at the moment: we're going through a big section on botany and plants, which I just find hard to get excited over. The teacher is too nice to dislike though... I'm just arbitrarily frustrated. It's probably mostly just been a result of my own health.
The heat has been over 100 degrees the last few days as well. Since I have to walk everywhere now that my car is no more, that hasn't been helping out either.
Oh well. I think I'm starting to feel better, and the temperatures are supposed to go down (a little bit) as well. So hopefully I can start turning this around in time.
Anyways. We got the Biology test back today and I got a B+ on it. It's not a particularly good grade, but given the way I've been doing the last two weeks I think a decent case can be made that its not a particularly bad grade either. There are two tests left, so there's still plenty of room to try and nudge my grade back up to an A of some type. I think I can do better on the next one - I'll certainly feel better when I'm trying to get it done.
My grade in the lab portion is probably a B+ as well as of now, so ideally one of the two things has to get up a tiny bit between now and the end of the course.
Our classes are running longer this Semester, going for the full three hours instead of the ~2 hours and change my last two summer courses have (typically) run. It's been really hard to sit through that with my headaches and dizziness, and its been frustrating because I think what's covered could be covered more efficiently. I'm also less interested in what we're doing at the moment: we're going through a big section on botany and plants, which I just find hard to get excited over. The teacher is too nice to dislike though... I'm just arbitrarily frustrated. It's probably mostly just been a result of my own health.
The heat has been over 100 degrees the last few days as well. Since I have to walk everywhere now that my car is no more, that hasn't been helping out either.
Oh well. I think I'm starting to feel better, and the temperatures are supposed to go down (a little bit) as well. So hopefully I can start turning this around in time.
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