3 Courses Down

There goes another semester of university! I spent most of this past semester unhappy & now that I'm free finished, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. However, you don't want to read about how I feel, do you? You're here for the misadventures of the past few weeks, aren't you? Sigh, alright. Here's my exam recap.
Dec/16 - Molecular - This was the easy one. The only issue I had with this was something that was affecting me in all my classes. For the most part of the semester I haven't been able to study effectively. It's not that I haven't had enough time, it's just that my mind wanders whenever I try to read my notes. Daydreams have always been a part of my but what I've been going through lately has been on another level. I'll read a paragraph & then lose focus for 15-20 minutes. With an entire Monday to study on my own, I only managed to read through my notes once before everyone else came home. To make matters worse, I had a really bad day on the day before this exam. So bad that I ended up with Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain" on repeat for at least an hour. That served as a turning point though. It brought me back to the way I used to study when I was taking night school classes after I graduated from high school. I've never been the best student so while I did earn a diploma, my grades weren't enough to get me into any university. Therefore I had nothing but time to study back in those days. I'd turn the volume up on some classics & get into that zone I brag about so much. That zone where nothing else matters except success. Tis a place I don't like to reside, but when you make it to your final year of school & know that one bad test can keep you from leaving, you find yourself willing to become a citizen. Knowing full well that the focused version of me isn't the most popular person in the world, I turned to music & away from a lot of people. Not that I don't love them, but there comes a time when everyone has to look out for themselves.

Dec/9 - Ecotoxicology - Although the professor gave us an outline of all the possible questions our class could see on the test, preparing for this was a mission. There was so much to know! The reason I didn't do well on the midterm, by her standards not mine, was that my answers lacked sufficient detail. This time around I approached the exam with an "empty the clip" mentality. Know everything that you can & when you see that question, write everything that comes to mind. Leave nothing out & go for broke. That's exactly what I did. Others didn't, as one of my friends gave up after an hour. After the test, I caught up with a few friends; two of which claimed to have fallen asleep during the test. T'was the first smile I cracked in days.

Dec/15 - Advance Biochemistry - Six days to get ready for an exam that you need to do well on in order to pass the course is more than enough, right? For me, maybe it was too much. For the first two days I got caught up procrastinating. My plan was to relax on the weekend & then start going hard again on Monday. Then I somehow ended up babysitting. Whose baby was it? Your guess is as good as mine. Someone Tru-Def knows needed someone to watch her son so the kid volunteered. What she knows about watching babies, I don't know. Far be it from me to keep someone from getting good karma though, right? I tweeted throughout the experience & let's just say it was time well spent.

#Fact - Studying for exams is hard. Looking after a child is harder.
— Scott (@thatCSAguy) December 12, 2011

On Tuesday & Wednesday I tried to bust my butt to pull off a miracle. In fact, I was still learning things for the first time hours before the test. To paraphrase the words of Rick on The Walking Dead, I did the best I could in the time I had. I'm glad it's all over & for the time being I can relax. Grades don't come out until Christmas, so maybe I'll dust off that smile of mine & see if it still works. Until next semester, it's time to focus on other things. *Steps of out 'The Zone'*