Week 10 - It's Finals Week! Choices. Optimism.

It's the beginning to the moment of truth. The moment of truth to the analysis of the educational work put in as a student. The moment of truth tells me, as the student on how I should gauge my next quarter-- my study habits, the load I take in, how to observe the quality of a class, etc.

Thus far, the first truth has been for my Multivariable Calculus class. I do admit, I'm bumming on the my grade of 87. That is not what is the most important though. I feel that I could have studied harder, understood the concepts better. My next question to myself was: how do I remedy this situation from happening again? Well, I've set up to meet my Professor to view my final exam. Then, I plan to work on the problems I missed to understand the concepts to a fuller extent. I realized that the faults I had from this class was not asking enough questions. It was helpful that I had a friend who visualized the surfaces that were being integrated because I couldn't visualize them in my head. By constantly having him show me how the mechanics to the work was done, I was able to understand enough of it to pass the class.
I find that horrifically unpractical though. I have just proven that I can pass a multivariable calculus class just by knowing how to solve equations, but not understand what's going on. Um....excuse me? Yes, I am happy that I did pass the class. Truthfully, 87 is a decent grade to boast. It would just be more satisfying to be able to internalize the grade because I fully understood the concepts rather than being a great equation solver.

Nevertheless, it is almost four o'clock in the morning now and I have another final for Critical Reasoning & Logic at eight o'clock tomorrow. I am not motivated for this class and I am glad I have opted for a P/NP (pass, no pass) option. I have decided to skip this final for the reason being that I did not learn anything. As mentioned, grades are not the most important in receiving a university education (or any education for that matter), but it is the concepts that have been understood-- but they do exist, so maintain a presentable GPA and be certain of the classes that you know won't give you a presentable grade. Note to prospective UCI students, and students who don't read the UCI Catalogue: You are only allowed one P/NP every quarter. Use it if you're taking a class you're interested in (not in your major) but aren't sure of the grade you will be getting. I particularly had an interest for this logic class, but later found that the definitions given to class from the Professor does not prove logic so much learned how to flourish on words. Well, on the bright side, I learned the main point of a logic class, and that is "A logician can seperate bad arguments from good arguments" the only problem was, Professor, you were a ten week course of an obscure argument.
So I have this minor guilt for just skipping the final. I'm in the midst of deciding whether I should just burn through the two-hundred point final exam....to get a, 100/200. Ha! But see, the most practical...logical explanation on taking this exam is to test the concepts that have been internalized in the first place, and the percentage of the material learned throughout the course for me is 50%. Maybe I'm estimating a little too high as well. Anyways, there was something gained from the course, it is to observe your instructors well and observe the interest level your are experiencing with the class.
Don't waste time is a key advice, and it was learned this quarter, thank you.

I will talk about more truths on a later post. I wish me luck on my upcoming finals!
Optimism.