My life thus far
Dec. 16th, 2003 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lierdumoaI had my physics final yesterday (it's after midnight). I don't think I did well enough to pass the class. Then again, I'm not sure anyone else in the class did that much better. My teacher had this whole plan for teaching physics "the way it used to be taught" -- in other words, with a fuckload of unnecessary calculus. Some of the questions on the test were so strangely worded and conceptual that neither I nor my classmates really knew where to begin. I suppose if I had taken the class in the regular curriculum instead of ESG[1] I wouldn't have had this problem. I heard that those who took it in the regular curriculum had a much easier time with it.
[1] ESG -- Experimental Learning Group -- It's a community of sorts, centering around teaching freshman core classes. Class size is generally very small (under ten people), and lessons are taught as opposed to lectures. This can be a very good thing when one has a good teacher. Students recieve more personal attention. However, this can be a very bad thing when one doesn't have a good teacher.
My time with it was particularly difficult because I had a bad teacher whose class lessons had little to do with the homework he assigned. Mostly, classes consisted of him going up to the blackboard and writing complex integrals, solving said integrals, then telling us -- this is one way to derive Faraday's Law, which you will be using on the homework. Also, all classes are supposed to have tutors/graders. We didn't get a tutor/grader for our class until halfway through the semester. I wasn't getting the necessary practice that comes with tutoring sessions, and I wasn't getting my homework graded. It certainly didn't help that we weren't given due dates for homework until we got a tutor, so for half the semester I didn't even have homework due. Of course, I procrastinated, and so the homework that wasn't due wasn't really getting done.
If I did pass (highly, highly unlikely) -- it would be the most amazing accomplishment of my life. You see, if I passed, that would mean I taught myself Electricity and Magnetism. I had about five or six hour long practice sessions with a tutor. Aside from that, it was just me and my textbook.
Anyway, I'm not upset about it. I managed to pass out of first semester physics with an entrance exam, so even if I flunk this course I won't be behind the rest of the freshman. Also, first semester at my college is pass/no record, so if I fail, it won't even show up in my transcripts. It's funny -- I told a friend I didn't think I passed and he was like "I'm so sorry!" and I was like, "Heh -- why? I'm not." I almost hope I didn't pass, because if I take it again, I'll probably learn it much better and I'll probably be able to get a really high grade because I've seen all the material before.
In a few hours I have calculus. I'm not too worried about it. I have chem on Wednesday, and I am pretty worried about that. Agh.
It's amazing when I look back on the semester. Sometimes when I'm stressed I can't believe how much time I wasted. I mean, I managed to watch sixty episodes of One Piece and Prince of Tennis -- each!
Other times, when I'm less stressed, I look back at all the work I did, and I can't believe that either. I remember looking up at the clock and realizing that I'd been doing physics for eight solid hours in a row. I remember writing journal entries at five in the morning because I needed to take a break from calculus homework but wouldn't dare do anything that would put me in danger of falling asleep (by the way, if you're interested in reading one of these entries, then ~this one~ is my personal favorite -- I distinctly remember reading it aloud to myself to make sure it made sense and thinking "I'm...talking...so...slowly...").
Sometimes I wonder why I decided to go here, instead of to an easier college. You know -- UC Berkley, or Princeton -- a party school. Then I remember. Bragging rights. Four years from now I'll walk away with a diploma in hand and a t-shirt that says "I graduated from M.I. Fucking T."
Speaking of which...
Ganked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evenstarjuliet
[Edit] Ohmygoodness. It's a post completely unrelated to 1) fandom or 2) icon making. It's actually about -- get this -- my life. Why, I think by definition one could even call it...a journal entry.
*snort*
[1] ESG -- Experimental Learning Group -- It's a community of sorts, centering around teaching freshman core classes. Class size is generally very small (under ten people), and lessons are taught as opposed to lectures. This can be a very good thing when one has a good teacher. Students recieve more personal attention. However, this can be a very bad thing when one doesn't have a good teacher.
My time with it was particularly difficult because I had a bad teacher whose class lessons had little to do with the homework he assigned. Mostly, classes consisted of him going up to the blackboard and writing complex integrals, solving said integrals, then telling us -- this is one way to derive Faraday's Law, which you will be using on the homework. Also, all classes are supposed to have tutors/graders. We didn't get a tutor/grader for our class until halfway through the semester. I wasn't getting the necessary practice that comes with tutoring sessions, and I wasn't getting my homework graded. It certainly didn't help that we weren't given due dates for homework until we got a tutor, so for half the semester I didn't even have homework due. Of course, I procrastinated, and so the homework that wasn't due wasn't really getting done.
If I did pass (highly, highly unlikely) -- it would be the most amazing accomplishment of my life. You see, if I passed, that would mean I taught myself Electricity and Magnetism. I had about five or six hour long practice sessions with a tutor. Aside from that, it was just me and my textbook.
Anyway, I'm not upset about it. I managed to pass out of first semester physics with an entrance exam, so even if I flunk this course I won't be behind the rest of the freshman. Also, first semester at my college is pass/no record, so if I fail, it won't even show up in my transcripts. It's funny -- I told a friend I didn't think I passed and he was like "I'm so sorry!" and I was like, "Heh -- why? I'm not." I almost hope I didn't pass, because if I take it again, I'll probably learn it much better and I'll probably be able to get a really high grade because I've seen all the material before.
In a few hours I have calculus. I'm not too worried about it. I have chem on Wednesday, and I am pretty worried about that. Agh.
It's amazing when I look back on the semester. Sometimes when I'm stressed I can't believe how much time I wasted. I mean, I managed to watch sixty episodes of One Piece and Prince of Tennis -- each!
Other times, when I'm less stressed, I look back at all the work I did, and I can't believe that either. I remember looking up at the clock and realizing that I'd been doing physics for eight solid hours in a row. I remember writing journal entries at five in the morning because I needed to take a break from calculus homework but wouldn't dare do anything that would put me in danger of falling asleep (by the way, if you're interested in reading one of these entries, then ~this one~ is my personal favorite -- I distinctly remember reading it aloud to myself to make sure it made sense and thinking "I'm...talking...so...slowly...").
Sometimes I wonder why I decided to go here, instead of to an easier college. You know -- UC Berkley, or Princeton -- a party school. Then I remember. Bragging rights. Four years from now I'll walk away with a diploma in hand and a t-shirt that says "I graduated from M.I. Fucking T."
Speaking of which...
Ganked from
evenstarjuliet[Edit] Ohmygoodness. It's a post completely unrelated to 1) fandom or 2) icon making. It's actually about -- get this -- my life. Why, I think by definition one could even call it...a journal entry.
*snort*
