Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Late nights & straight blights
Real quick; I apologize for not having posted in nearly three weeks. I'm assuming everyone sent their inquiries Benjamin's way (if you remember, early on, he exhibited his willingness to field any number of complaints regarding the frequency or content of postings) because I didn't hear from anyone regarding the dearth of updates. It's either that OR, no one is checking up on me!
As many of you have heard, the program down here has me swamped. The latest in my perpetually evolving theories asserts that the clinical department here asks roughly the same amount of reading as Macalester did, but long gone are the days of one hour tests. In what seems like a very logical progression, I've come a long ways from high school social studies classes with open book for ten minutes or open "all the notes you can cram onto a 3' X 5' notecard." I never laid eyes on a final exam until I attended Macalester and now, well, if I leave the classroom two and a half hours after starting, I say a silent prayer and throw my two index fingers to the heavens. Say nothing of the preparation involved!
So...I got taken to town on my first Quantitative Methods exam (along with several others) and had to reevaluate my game plan in time for the first Adv. Behavioral Neuroscience exam. While it wasn't a whole lot of fun landing a whopping 77 % on that first exam, there is a pattern here and sufficient reason for suppressing the innate panic-button reflex. I can't say, with 100% certainty, if this phenomenon stretches back to high school (although I doubt it...reference earlier comments about social studies courses,) but most assuredly at Macalester. It seems nothing I can tell myself will convince me that I do, in fact, have to study hard wherever I am. Exams do not, all of a sudden, get easier and especially not when you move on to graduate school. That being said, I have always rebounded quite proficiently and salvaged very respectable grades in the end. Which, of course, is what I have every intention of doing once again.
The Neuroscience exam lasted three hours (my roommate was in the classroom a total of four and a half hours) and I managed 87%. Now seems as good a time as any to point out that anything below 80% for a final grade forces the individual to retake that class and if this is your fate three separate instances, well, you fail out of the program...and yes, there are folks who suffer this humiliation. Also worthy of mention is my largely "middle-of-the-road" academic performances thus far, which gives you an idea what at least half my peers are facing. The other half, of course, are kicking my butt and doing just fine.
In preparation for that Neuroscience exam I pulled my first all-nighter right before the exam. Class is typically held at 8 AM and on that particular day, testing commenced at 7 AM in an effort to avoid having our class run into the 9 AM class. The attempt, while noble, was futile as one out of twenty students had finished the exam before 9 AM rolled around. Today we had our second of four Quantitative Methods exams and I must admit I feel it went much more smoothly, although the rumor is that, you never really know until you get your exam back. I would share the cumulative number of hours spent studying for this exam, but I'm afraid it would jeopardize everyone's good health. Oh, and our Advanced Psychopathology class had both a take home and in-class the other week. We'll learn our test scores either this Thursday or next week Tuesday. My take home portion consisted of eleven pages single spaced and the in-class portion lasted two and a half hours. I'm beginning to tire again, just writing about it.
As many of you have heard, the program down here has me swamped. The latest in my perpetually evolving theories asserts that the clinical department here asks roughly the same amount of reading as Macalester did, but long gone are the days of one hour tests. In what seems like a very logical progression, I've come a long ways from high school social studies classes with open book for ten minutes or open "all the notes you can cram onto a 3' X 5' notecard." I never laid eyes on a final exam until I attended Macalester and now, well, if I leave the classroom two and a half hours after starting, I say a silent prayer and throw my two index fingers to the heavens. Say nothing of the preparation involved!
So...I got taken to town on my first Quantitative Methods exam (along with several others) and had to reevaluate my game plan in time for the first Adv. Behavioral Neuroscience exam. While it wasn't a whole lot of fun landing a whopping 77 % on that first exam, there is a pattern here and sufficient reason for suppressing the innate panic-button reflex. I can't say, with 100% certainty, if this phenomenon stretches back to high school (although I doubt it...reference earlier comments about social studies courses,) but most assuredly at Macalester. It seems nothing I can tell myself will convince me that I do, in fact, have to study hard wherever I am. Exams do not, all of a sudden, get easier and especially not when you move on to graduate school. That being said, I have always rebounded quite proficiently and salvaged very respectable grades in the end. Which, of course, is what I have every intention of doing once again.
The Neuroscience exam lasted three hours (my roommate was in the classroom a total of four and a half hours) and I managed 87%. Now seems as good a time as any to point out that anything below 80% for a final grade forces the individual to retake that class and if this is your fate three separate instances, well, you fail out of the program...and yes, there are folks who suffer this humiliation. Also worthy of mention is my largely "middle-of-the-road" academic performances thus far, which gives you an idea what at least half my peers are facing. The other half, of course, are kicking my butt and doing just fine.
In preparation for that Neuroscience exam I pulled my first all-nighter right before the exam. Class is typically held at 8 AM and on that particular day, testing commenced at 7 AM in an effort to avoid having our class run into the 9 AM class. The attempt, while noble, was futile as one out of twenty students had finished the exam before 9 AM rolled around. Today we had our second of four Quantitative Methods exams and I must admit I feel it went much more smoothly, although the rumor is that, you never really know until you get your exam back. I would share the cumulative number of hours spent studying for this exam, but I'm afraid it would jeopardize everyone's good health. Oh, and our Advanced Psychopathology class had both a take home and in-class the other week. We'll learn our test scores either this Thursday or next week Tuesday. My take home portion consisted of eleven pages single spaced and the in-class portion lasted two and a half hours. I'm beginning to tire again, just writing about it.
# posted by Jude : 10:23 PM
