So, I wrote the second term test on Monday and it was an utter disaster; it was horrific! I had thought that it would be prepared for the task, but clearly I wasn't prepared at all; I undoubtedly failed. I will limit the specifics, because there is still the night section that needs to write the test. I should start of by saying I really messed up on unwinding! There was a similar example done in class, but I choked under pressure. I was able to muster-up some what of an outline through my incomplete unwinding; I don't expect many marks from that question. The rest of the test, I had no idea how to do. I don't think there were examples like that done before, but I can be wrong. I had no idea how to approach it or even set up a base case for it! I had to settle for an "I don't know how to answer this question", because it was truly that; I had no idea where to start! I think this test required us to have a better handle on the fundamentals rather than depending on specifics to appear on this test; that is where I probably went wrong in my studying. This can be contributed to comparing to the first test, where all the questions were complete in class one way or another. I do also have specific issues about this test.
One gripe I have with this test, is the morning class had to write it on the Monday, while the evening class gets to write the test four nights later! If people from the morning section were to inform the evening section about the type of questions, or even the difficulty of the test, the evening section will be much more prepared to write the test. I understand there are limitations on the tutorial times, but I still think it could have been better carried out. Also, I did not like the time constraint the assignment had on us preparing for the test. We did have the weekend, but we also have four other courses to manage as well. If I were to solely take this class, I would have done fine with studying through the weekend, but sadly that is not the case. Another issue I had with the test was the upload of the past term test. Helpful or not, I was hoping the past test would be uploaded BEFORE the day of the test. It would have given us a better idea of how the test would have been. My final issue with test would be the questions. I wish the questions could have been shorter and maybe one or more questions on the test. Why? Well, there were a lot of topics covered up to this midterm. I spent a lot of time trying to grasp all the other concepts we had covered, but on the test we had a very limited range of questions asked to us. Either that should have been the case, or maybe Danny should have told us specific areas to cover. Since Danny told us that all of chapter three and a bit of chapter two were "fair-game" I expected the test to represent that notion. Those were the complaints I had about the test and I think I vented enough to get rid of that built up negativity.
Now don't get me wrong, I want to emphasize that I could have prepared better for this test. There are ways I could have avoided this "disaster and a half" and I'm sure I would have done much better. I definitely could have approached the test more efficiently. However, I do feel discussing in a bit more detail could have save me from all this despair. Danny, if you're reading this then I'd like to say you're still an awesome professor. I'm truly sorry if I ruined your mood, but the test ruined my day.
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