Exam Feevaaah!!
The last day of classes for our university is tomorrow. Of all the classes to end the semester with, I have a 9am math class. Knowing the professor, he’s going to take up the whole one-and-a-half hours of lecture time with his dry math. It’s not unusual to have professors scurrying to finish up the syllabus. So much for a pleasant farewell.
"... and the abscissas to use when using Newton's Method are..., Happy Holidays!"
This semester’s the worst for me in terms of exam schedules. My exams in previous semesters were pretty evenly spread out so I didn’t have to worry about being in the right mindset for each paper. This semester, I have one final on Friday, then two papers next Monday and one more a day after that. It’s like everything’s been squished over that five-day period, with only the weekend for some respite.
The worst kind of final examinations are the cumulative ones. You’ve already had two midterms which you’ve studied for. Now you have to take this third exam which covers everything you’ve studied from day one. Is there anything new? No, you still have your old homework to look through, same notes and textbook. I don’t know about you but that bores the crap out of me.
I know you students of the glorified British system are cursing us in the American camp. I am well aware that you guys have it a lot worse than we do. But hey, you know since the American system was set up such that it was like you chuck away material every four months, why don’t they go the extra mile and make us chuck out material every one to two months by setting exams which cover material from the last exam onwards? It wouldn’t make much of a difference now would it? (And all the students in the States give me a “Hey Ya!”)
The point I’m knocking on here is that I’m really bored to death of having to dig up my old homework and look through all the old material from the early part of the semester. I’ll readily admit that I forgot most of what I’ve done, but revision is such a pain. It’s like re-reading a comic strip. The jokes are all old and stale. It isn’t funny anymore. It’s like regurgitating your dinner, and chewing on it again. Doesn’t taste as good. Oh, well… but a student’s got to do what a student’s got to do.
And not to rub it in, but……good luck ya ol’ Brits! *wink!
"... and the abscissas to use when using Newton's Method are..., Happy Holidays!"
This semester’s the worst for me in terms of exam schedules. My exams in previous semesters were pretty evenly spread out so I didn’t have to worry about being in the right mindset for each paper. This semester, I have one final on Friday, then two papers next Monday and one more a day after that. It’s like everything’s been squished over that five-day period, with only the weekend for some respite.
The worst kind of final examinations are the cumulative ones. You’ve already had two midterms which you’ve studied for. Now you have to take this third exam which covers everything you’ve studied from day one. Is there anything new? No, you still have your old homework to look through, same notes and textbook. I don’t know about you but that bores the crap out of me.
I know you students of the glorified British system are cursing us in the American camp. I am well aware that you guys have it a lot worse than we do. But hey, you know since the American system was set up such that it was like you chuck away material every four months, why don’t they go the extra mile and make us chuck out material every one to two months by setting exams which cover material from the last exam onwards? It wouldn’t make much of a difference now would it? (And all the students in the States give me a “Hey Ya!”)
The point I’m knocking on here is that I’m really bored to death of having to dig up my old homework and look through all the old material from the early part of the semester. I’ll readily admit that I forgot most of what I’ve done, but revision is such a pain. It’s like re-reading a comic strip. The jokes are all old and stale. It isn’t funny anymore. It’s like regurgitating your dinner, and chewing on it again. Doesn’t taste as good. Oh, well… but a student’s got to do what a student’s got to do.
And not to rub it in, but……good luck ya ol’ Brits! *wink!
posted by Mike Ng at 7:24 PM
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