Conversation at my house; fuzzy yellow things

[cjsmith]

Me: Biology grades are posted!
Rob: And?
Me: I'm not the highest grade in the class. I'm down a third of a percentage point from someone in the afternoon lab section.
Rob: You suck.

[LJ-CUT TEXT="grades stuff"]
I'm ticked at myself for not getting 100% on that exam, given that I knew the material very very well thank you, but dangit I bet I can pull ahead of that other student muah hah hah. ;-)

In all seriousness, I'm very pleased. I'm thrilled. And I'm LOVING bio class AND bio lab.

Chem: 86%. I am annoyed, because I should have been able to do those problems, but apparently the average was sixty, and I learned that she does grade on a curve applied at the end of the semester on total points earned. Depending on how many drop the class in the next few weeks, I may or may not be on track for an A in there too, but I'm not an A on my own merit. Not yet, anyway.[/LJ-CUT]

Physics exam tomorrow. And physics lab. And bio lab. I want a nap.

Hey! Bio lab yesterday gave me a name and a concept to go with those weird little yellow fuzzy worm-shaped things that fall in the hot tub all the time. Those are MALE pine cones. Who'd'a thunk it?

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Rob: You suck.

Hee! That made me snort fine red wine :):).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I love him. He makes me laugh, something I didn't come to value highly until after I'd met him.

[brooksmoses]

Yay, good grades!

"On your own merit" is sort of an odd phrase for it, given that the class as a whole ought to have enough of its own merit to get more than an average of 60!

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

Ummm, this is DeAnza we're talking about.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I suspect the range is enormous. No one got above a 91, but I overheard that somebody was in the twenties.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

True. It's not like the material on the test was unrelated to what we've been doing in homework two hours a night since the beginning of the quarter. We all should have been able to do pretty well. On the other hand, I lost a couple of questions by running out of time, and time is always something that can skew the results of the group as a whole.

Eh well. I'm not dead yet. (But still not king.) :-)

[jcgbigler.livejournal.com]

I don't know where the idea comes from that every test should be designed so that there are 100 points, and 60 points is a D, 70 is a C, 80 is a B, and 90 is an A. Tests can be arbitrarily easy or hard. On a hard test, 86 points might deserve an A, whereas on a easier test, 86 points might only deserve a C. If you understand more than 95% of the class, that is an A on your own merit.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

I got into this argument with one of my instructors when I got an 85% on an essay and he said it was "great". I want perfection, dammit!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it's an A by comparison. I'd like to understand, say, more than 95% of the material. (Of course, as you say, a test can be arbitrarily difficult.)

Part of my anxiety over this is that I am simultaneously grade-grubbing and desperate for a good foundation in this. I'm going on to o-chem and biochem, cellular respiration and drug formulation, and I neeeeeeeed to know chem. Yet I don't feel I can afford to make the mistakes that might let me learn.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Excellent. You're kicking college butt.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I sure hope so. If I don't get perfect or near-perfect grades, it's back to the salt bit mines for me! :-)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

w00t :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) Not out of the woods yet, though, at least with chem.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

Go you.

It's great to remember how smart you are, isn't it??? And isn't it funny how the competitive streak comes out around grades?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I know one thing for sure, though: I'm not as smart as I used to be. Things I memorized twenty or twenty-five years ago I still have today. Those ions I need to refresh every morning!

I'm not deeply competitive. What I wouldn't half mind doing is finding out who that person from the other section is and studying together! THAT would rock! But I admit I do have that little twinge of "hey, someone has a higher grade than I do". Silly ego. :-)

[mnhwy11.livejournal.com]

I remember the first time in undergrad that someone got a higher grade than me. I was scaning the class looking for the culprit. Mumbling under my breath and mad as hell at myself. Now I'm used to it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Good point. I clearly will have to get (more) used to it as well. Not only am I forty-one years old, I'm taking a course load the counselor recommended against AND working more than 10 hours a week. It's just the way the cookie crumbles.

BUT. I am going to be a veterinarian. (Someday, if I am fortunate.) It will all be worth it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Good thing you're loving Bio. Does it help confirm that you've made the right choice?

I still have a bit of trouble accepting the whole concept of the grade curve. I'm an absolutist where the amount of knowledge is concerned, dammit. :-) Although I am getting used to it, and hopefully it will save my you-know-what in my current math class.

Good luck on the physics today.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how confirmatory my love of bio class is, as we have a WONDERFUL instructor. (Same problem with my work at the vet clinic: the people are wonderful, so how do I know I'd love the job itself?) Still, it's fun to be in a class I'm enjoying so much!

I too am an absolutist about knowledge / understanding. Either I've got the concepts (or the facts) or I don't. The emotional part of my brain wants a letter grade to quantify that.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Woohoo!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

Am also feeling pretty good about physics test this morning. Fingers crossed.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Woo!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I might just manage to do this... what a weird thought!

[allanh.livejournal.com]

86%? After all of that agony? And you were CERTAIN that you were going to flunk out, and didn't believe the teacher when she said she thought you were going to be one of her only A students?

Rob's right. You totally suck.

But in a good way.

You go, girl!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I wasn't certain I was going to flunk. My problem was that I was not sure I was going to get an A. To me, you see, for this particular goal, there's no difference.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected. But I still think Rob's right. You're so brilliant you scare me, sometimes.

*mwah!*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*mwah!* And of course Rob is right. Rob is ALWAYS right. ;-)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

"Obey Rob French."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Fortunately for me, there are some slight... modifications... to that within the walls of this house. ;-)