Huzzah for homework

[Hrough]

I don't know why I'm kicking this rant up here, but I feel that I may as well show you all some more of the person behind the dragon.

I'm currently taking a Computer Systems Technology program at a Canadian institute known as SIAST (Kelsey campus, to be specific). Man, I did NOT know what I was getting into!

There was a period there for a couple of weeks where I couldn't even log into the game - between my modem dying and several assignments, I just couldn't find the time.

I just finished my Intermediate Programming midterm today, and it turns out my first Databases assignment (ew, Microsoft Access!) netted me a mark that was less than acceptable. Fortunately, I scored fairly well on my Networking Managemnet course, and I have web design next week - should be a breeze. After that, I finally get a break for a week, which will likely be spent playing Horizons, my game consoles and studying for Hardware.

I won't even start on how some of my teachers infuriate me.

I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning!

How many other folks here are in college/university programs that tend to devour all your free time? I'm going to die come finals... *sheepish whine* Hrough is going to stay a hatchling forever. XP

Feels great to get that off my shoulders though... I don't have anything due next week (yet), kind of hoping it'll stay that way.

[lightning claw]

EWWWWW for all your wows hope every thing calms down for u


as for acess its a good program once *beats it repetively *you train it

as for staying a hachie for ever No chance there is spring break coming up ! and if your on chaos i might swoop by to assist you young one Smiles and showers hachie with shinie things

[Hrough]

Hehe, sorry, I'm on Order. But thanks for the offer anyway!

Yeah, Access seems okay once you beat it into submission, but we've been using microsoft programs for EVERYTHING and the similiar interfaces are starting to drive me insane. And don't get me started on Visual Basic for Applications. *shudder*

I just can't wait until next year when we learn programming languages other than Java. (And I say that now, but I'll be crying even more then.)

[RuneDragoon]

I am studying game design at the art institute of vancouver (Burnaby). I think people on the order server notice frequently I log in these days.

In the last two weeks of a quarter, I don't have enough time to even think about anything but homework, too. Such is the life of a student.

[Steelclaw]

It's been awhile since I've had real homework. *Holds up "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!" shirt.*

After having graduated, I can say that I wish my only concern was getting a paper written on time, or turning in a program before the auto-grader locked me out. Enjoy it while you can!

I offer this advice: Read your syllabus and school's grading policies carefully. Yes, there is quite a bit of work to be done, but at least in my experience, I have not had to do all of it.

It's called the "Numbers Game". Consider the following situation:
- homework is 10 assignments, equally weighted, in total, worth 10% of your grade
- midterm is 45%
- final is 45%
- grading is as follows:
A - 100-89%
B - 88-76%
C - 75-63%
D - 62-50%
F - 50-0%
- there are no other restrictions or penalties, other than mentioned above

It's the middle of the term, you just finished your midterm, scoring 73% on it, that lands you a total contribution of 32.9% towards your final grade. Your 6 homework assignments so far have been 90% each, giving you 5.4% towards your final grade. So far, your total is 38.3%.

Now, given the above, you can't get an A. Not even if you get 100% on the remaining homework and 100% on the final. (You'll top out at 87.3%.) You're still good for a B though! All you need is 81% on the final and 0% of the homework, or 100% of the homework and 73% on the final. So, why bust your tail to get a high B if a high B has the same contribution towards your GPA as a low B? Spend your time on other classes, where you still have a chance of getting an A.

Of course, some schools have finer-grained grading, A, A-, B+, B, B- ... the same strategy applies, just the decision is a lot less clear. It's also worth mentioning that homework prepares you for the tests. In the above scenario, you could skip all the remaining homework and go straight to the final. Don't do this. Do the homework anyway, make an effort to understand it, turn in whatever you have when it's due, just don't stay up all night doing it. You'll just end up forgetting it all and probably wind up sick.

[gopher65]

I'm currently taking a Computer Systems Technology program at a Canadian institute known as SIAST (Kelsey campus, to be specific). Man, I did NOT know what I was getting into!

Do you live in Saskatoon Hrough? I live about 6 blocks away from the Kelsey campus here.

[Hrough]

Do you live in Saskatoon Hrough? I live about 6 blocks away from the Kelsey campus here.

Really? Yes, I am in Saskatoon. XP

Ah, Steelclaw, that is useful advice. I have worked before, so I'm not in college fresh out of high-school! Spent two years working, and I'm actually grateful to be back and getting an education.

Staying up all night on an assignment really has never been my style. I get them done, as much as I can and as well as I can, but since they're worth so little, I don't overdo it. I would rather study for my midterms and finals, as the passing grade for any given class is 60%! A bit painful, but I'm really only aiming for a B average here. So long as I survive through these two years, I think I'll be okay.

[C`gan]

ICK! College!

That was 4.5 years of annoyance. Give me a nice lab to sit in, specimens to process, lithologies, mineralogies, chemistries to analyze, thin sections to make, and isotopes to sort out and I'd be fine. Put me out in the field with a bunch of jocks, babes, and spazzes to interrupt good science and, well, is it any wonder I barely passed field camp?

Never pulled an all-nighter. Your memory systems suffer for lack of sleep, so you're ending up wasting time you could be sleeping.

Can't say I really had all that much homework, aside from the idiotic physics profs who wouldn't have known the broad side of a spectrophotometer if it came up and BIT them.

Loved my time working on the x-ray diffractometer, optical microscopes, and even the scanning electron microprobe (at $25 per minute electricity cost, thank you!). Hand me a thin section and the density of the glue and I had lithologies nailed. I was one of a band of calculus pornographers (inside joke with that class, doing derivatives and integrals with the best of them using half the brainpower, all for FUN and the inevitable discussion of the professor's aerobics class).

Keep this in mind: doing laundry is an ideal time to do paperwork/figuring homework. It SUCKS for writing reports.

[Hrough]

Hehehe. I tend to solve problems better right after a good night's rest, during my morning tea! I cherish what sleep I get.

Oh, I love lab work! I wound up going into a field that's not as physical to the earth as we know it, but I love hanging around hardware labs and figuring things out. It's not as exciting, as everything is pre-determined for the most part, but I find it fun.

It also means I don't have to use as much math, as that is what REALLY gets to me. While I may have interest in physics, geology and many other sciences, I just was never that great with manual calculations. A great friend of mine though happens to be going for Chem Tech, so I get to hover around her and ask questions like the geek I am. XP

[RuneDragoon]

*cracks knuckles* 35 pages of document typing this weekend, plus a character model, plus a drawing. Oh yeah.